The Elegant Criminal

The Elegant Criminal

Drama | Dec. 19, 1990

On 9 January 1836, Pierre Lacenaire goes to the guillotine, a murderer and a thief. He gives Allard, a police inspector, his life story, written while awaiting execution. He also asks Allard to care for Hermine, a lass to whom he has been guardian for more than ten years. In flashbacks, from the prison as Lacenaire writes, from Allard's study as he and Hermine read, and from other readers' memory after the book is published, we see Lacenaire's childhood as he stands up to bullies, including priests, his youthful thieving, his first murder, his brief army career, his seduction of a princess, and his affair with Avril, a young man who dies beside him.

The Elegant Criminal

Drama | Dec. 19, 1990

The Elegant Criminal
On 9 January 1836, Pierre Lacenaire goes to the guillotine, a murderer and a thief. He gives Allard, a police inspector, his life story, written while awaiting execution. He also asks Allard to care for Hermine, a lass to whom he has been guardian for more than ten years. In flashbacks, from the prison as Lacenaire writes, from Allard's study as he and Hermine read, and from other readers' memory after the book is published, we see Lacenaire's childhood as he stands up to bullies, including priests, his youthful thieving, his first murder, his brief army career, his seduction of a princess, and his affair with Avril, a young man who dies beside him.
IMDb rating 6.1
Producers
Original title Lacenaire
Directors Francis Girod
Writers

Cast

Daniel Auteuil

as Pierre-François Lacenaire

Jean Poiret

as Allard

Jacques Weber

as Jacques Arago

François Périer

as Lacenaire's father

Geneviève Casile

as Lacenaire's mother

Jean Davy

as Alphonse Damoiseau

Jacques Duby

as Marmignat

Paul Le Person

as Vigouroux

Maïwenn

as Hermine

Jacques Sereys

as Pertuizet

Rufus

as Canler

Gérard Desarthe

as Professor Tonnelier

Marie-Armelle Deguy

as Princess Ida

Samuel Labarthe

as The abbot of Lusignan

Jean-Pierre Miquel

as The president of the court

Jean-Paul Muel

as Poulaillon

Patrick Pineau

as Avril

Aurélien Recoing

as François

Yves Dangerfield

as Doctor Brianchon

Daniel Mesguich

as Ida's husband

François-Régis Bastide

as The superior

Claude Makovski

as General Counsel

Maurice Bernart

as Lambolley

Michel Vocoret

as The big

Gérald Calderon

as May father

Jean-Luc Douin

as The prison priest

Henri Colpi

as The head of the prison