If the perfect crime caper movie should be as slick and effortless as a well-oiled machine, this French diamond heist thriller trundles along like a jalopy that is missing a few crucial cogs. Writer/director Eric Barbier ticks the right boxes – the brassy, swaggering score sounds like offcuts from David Holmes’ work for the Oceans series; the backdrop, an auction for a 137-carat diamond, is suitably glitzy. But the pacing is sluggish and, for all the glinting, multifaceted precious stones, there is little sparkle between conman and heist specialist Simon (Yvan Attal) and glamorous but conveniently credulous auction organiser Julia (Bérénice Bejo, rather out of her depth). The heist itself is devilishly convoluted, but entertaining enough. However, whatever momentum the picture had accrued is lost in an increasingly absurd third act in which Simon must redeem himself and clear the name of the woman he set out to rob.
