Flawless (2007 film)

Flawless
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Radford
Produced by	Carola Ash Jimmy de Brabant Stephen Margolis Albert Martinez Martin Michael A. Pierce Richard Pierce Charles Salmon Mark Williams
Written by	Edward Anderson
Starring	Demi Moore Michael Caine Joss Ackland Jonathan Aris Simon Day Josef d'Bache-Kane Lambert Wilson
Music by	Stephen Warbeck
Cinematography	Richard Greatrex
Edited by	Peter Boyle
Distributed by	Magnolia Pictures
Release date	11 February 2007 (2007-02-11)
Running time	108 minutes
Country	United Kingdom Luxembourg
Language	English
Budget	$20 million
Box office	$6,819,587

Flawless is a 2007 British fictional^[1] crime film directed by Michael Radford, written by Edward Anderson, and starring Michael Caine and Demi Moore. It premiered 11 February 2007 in Germany. The film had a limited release in the United States on 28 March 2008.^[2]

Plot

A reporter enters a restaurant to interview Laura Quinn, the only woman to ever have been a manager at the London Diamond Corporation. Quinn places a box on the table, pulls out of this box a huge diamond, and says, "I stole it."

The movie flashes back to 1960, when Quinn was still employed as a manager at London Diamond Corporation. She is passed over for a promotion for the sixth time despite being intellectually superior to her male co-workers. When the company is in danger of losing a crucial contract with the Russians, Quinn saves the company with a simple solution, but the Russians will not proceed unless the arrangements are kept secret from everyone except senior management, which excludes Quinn. Quinn is to be terminated. The janitor, Mr. Hobbs, finds out this and warns her. He offers her a place in a plot: stealing enough diamonds to make them rich, but not enough to be noticed.

However, Mr. Hobbs steals every single diamond, almost two tons worth, and holds them for a ransom of 100 million pounds. The head of the insurance syndicate from King's Row is forced to pay the ransom, leaving him financially ruined. Quinn never agreed to this and now finds herself trapped.

The company hires a private investigator, Mr Finch, to keep the matter from going public. Mr. Finch keeps a close eye on Mr. Hobbs and Miss Quinn. Quinn wants to avoid jail time by giving the diamonds back but Mr. Hobbs refuses.

When the president of London Diamond Corporation has a heart attack over the stress of the situation once leaked to Press, Mr. Finch is called away. Miss Quinn runs to the bathroom and cries uncontrollably. She pulls a handkerchief from her purse which held one of her earrings she had taken apart earlier. The diamond from the earring falls down the drain of the sink and into the trap underneath. As she takes it apart and retrieves it, she gets an idea as to how it could have been pulled and where the diamonds could be. She goes down into the sewer under the company and finds Mr. Hobbs guarding a passage. He pulls a gun on her, but she finds a huge diamond on the floor. Mr. Hobbs confesses that he actually wants to ruin the head of the insurance syndicate whose delay in covering Mrs. Hobbs’ medical expenses on cancer treatment resulted in her death.

Once the deadline for the ransom has passed, Mr. Hobbs leaves. Miss Quinn finds the mountain of diamonds and calls Mr. Finch.

Quinn tells the reporter that later on she resigned and received a letter from a bank in Switzerland: Mr. Hobbs had given her 100 million pounds sterling. She confesses to keeping that huge diamond, perhaps as a symbol of the last little piece of vanity. Quinn gets up and walks away leaving a manuscript with the reporter. The manuscript details how Quinn spent the rest of her life donating all of the money to many different organizations.

Cast

• Michael Caine as Mr. Hobbs
• Demi Moore as Laura Quinn
• Lambert Wilson as Finch
• Joss Ackland as Milton Kendrick Ashtoncroft
• Constantine Gregory as Dmitriev
• Ahmed Ayman as Bondok
• Natalie Dormer as Cassie, the reporter

Critical reception

The film received generally positive to average reviews from critics. As of 24 April 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 56% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 93 reviews.^[3] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 57 out of 100, based on 21 reviews.^[4]

Box office performance

The film was released 5 October 2007 in Spain and has grossed $2.2 million there as of 6 January 2008.^[5]

References

External links

• Flawless on IMDb
• Flawless at Rotten Tomatoes
• Flawless at Metacritic
• Flawless at Box Office Mojo
• Flawless at AllMovie