The Elegant Criminal

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.

Cast for The Elegant Criminal...

Daniel Auteuil
Pierre-François Lacenaire
Jacques Weber
Jacques Arago
François Périer
Lacenaire's father
Geneviève Casile
Lacenaire's mother
Jean Davy
Alphonse Damoiseau
Jacques Duby
Marmignat
Maïwenn
Hermine
Rufus
Canler
Gérard Desarthe
Professor Tonnelier
Samuel Labarthe
The abbot of Lusignan
Jean-Pierre Miquel
The president of the court
Jean-Paul Muel
Poulaillon
Yves Dangerfield
Doctor Brianchon
Daniel Mesguich
Ida's husband
Claude Makovski
General Counsel
Henri Lanoë
The first mogul
Jean-Luc Douin
The prison priest
Henri Colpi
The head of the prison