Paris, 1830
Wait! Wait. If I must die...
i want to know. I want to see your face.
Vidocq is dead!
Vidocq betrayed by love
Vidocq as convict
on the run
he tries it in a different way
the prisoner becomes a securitychef
Vidocq and the new police
he's getting decorated
thanks for nothing The prefect fires Vidocq
Vidocq makes his own police corps
Vidocq and Nimier Intelligence agency
Loser!
What's up? What do you want?
Good afternoon. Etienne Boisset. Journalist.
No drolers here.
I am not just a journalist.
I write about Vidocq. I am his official biographer.
What is so funny?
He did not need anyone to write his memoirs. If somebody writes something...
I am the first to know. I am Nimier, his partner.
Do you understand?
Give me a moment, I will show you something. Look.
Vidocq wrote me.
He was expecting me. I swear it. He was going to re-read it.
Look.
Don't you know it? Vidocq is dead.
- Yes, exactly. - Why, exactly?
- What do you want? - I want to finish my book.
I must find the murderer.
The murderer of Vidocq. Poor fellow.
I must find his murderer.
Then its more than just an Biograpy. It will be revenge. His revenge.
Disappear.
- Go Away! Than I can forget you. - Help me. Tell me what you know.
You were doing an investigation? Both of you?
- Aren't you doing anything? - Who killed him, is as good as dead!
I can help you.
Tell me what happened. Then it'll become more clear.
Tell me how did it started.
It began one week ago, with two rich people.
Belmont and Veraldi.
Thay is nonsence. It is not because they were hit by lightning...
One men hit by lightning is an accident.
Two men hit by lightning is a plot.
- Certainly if it are Belmont en Veraldi. - Who are They?
Belmont was the most important weapenmanufacturer of France.
Veraldi was a chemist.
He makes explosives of it.
So what?
It is an heavy battle for our army.
We cannot have a weak spot now. Certainly not now.
What do you fear? An attack from the Germans?
They put you on the Throne.
I fear an attack from the inside.
The reformations are not populair.
- Not really. - Paris is full of conspiracy.
Orleanisten, bonapartisten, republicans.
Even I do not know.
I don't do politics.
My people have their hands full.
That with the lightning, goes to far, you have to investigate this.
You fired me. Can't you remember?
No, it is not possible. Too much work.
Don't you understand? The monarchy is threatened.
I expect a new attack with the next lightning.
Pay. I will think about it.
Is ethic a strange thing for you?
You're hiding your talents.
Whose fault is that?
Do not forget it.
You have until the next lighting.
Napoleon made all clocks melt to cannons.
There were never enough.
The workplaces where built in churches. Like us.
This is a good place. Very close to the Lord.
- Yes, but not for long anymore. - Why?
What a question. Only Belmont was aquainted with the secrets of irrigating.
Do you have an idea about his dead?
That is the big Theatre of life.
Belmont was successfull because of the fire. He died because of the fire.
Youre boss never left without his body-guards.
- He did not only feared ghosts, he? - Yes, he was afraid for a long time.
Did he do strange business?
A fairer person then him didn't exist.
He had some bad things, the bourgeois...
but he deserves that we make a toast on him.
- Which bad things? - Well, I will tell you.
Belmont...
- What do you mean? - He was like a painter, if you like.
But his paintings, were himself.
- Was he married? - Yes. with his belly button.
- What happend? - Nothing abnormal.
A burning beggar. We made powder.
Our jackets are full of it.
Wait. When the lightning strucked Belmont...
he began to burn like a torch.
Maybe there was some powder on his jacket.
Come on.
Those jackets where cleaned by the wash woman.
It would be incredibly careless.
Do not forget me on your list of suspects.
A canon that exploded, in Austerlitz.
A small technical failure.
Thank you, Sir Belmont.
A lovely woman...
Hurry. Think of the next lightning, come on!
It will be fast.
The clothes of Belmont?
The little African will take care of it. Gandin.
- Where is Gandin? - He is ironing.
We will call him.
Gandin!
- Are you Gandin? - I did not do anything wrong.
Are you him or not?
Did you cleaned his jacket on the day Belmont died?
- I did not do anything wrong. - Did you do it or not?
- I am innocent. - Did you do it or not?
I'm gonna ironon your mouth!
Stop that, Goddamnit!
Excuse me. Its because of the rosé.
- Did you cleaned his jacket? - No.
- Why Not? - They told me not to clean it.
- Who told you? Who? - I saw an centrifuge.
No! I got a letter...
- So you can read? - No, no.
The clothes of Belmont and Veraldi did not have to be cleaned anymore.
- Where did the letter came from? - No Idea. There was money included.
- They where grilled. - I could not know it.
- Asshole! - I swear.
I did not have any choice.
- Why? - The letter. It was an order.
An order from the devil himself.
- Nonsence! - I Swear. I Swear.
It was written with blood.
I think lightning can be aimed at a target.
To catch the lightning you need a lightning....
and to send the energy it must be aimable.
Also there must be, and that is the conditio sine qua non...
a metal element being present on the target.
There.
Protect your eyes.
- Easy. - The metall, everything is there.
The cosmical fire that hits everything deep within one second.
But there is no fire.
Anvictim of lightning can not burn.
Some of them even come out without any injuries.
The lightning was just a spark.
It reminds me of the prison and the Stoneoven.
- Forget that. - Sure.
What are you looking for?
They were set up.
They were accurate prepared.
- And what else? - What else?
If there where bombs, there must have been some sort of fuse.
What was there in the hat?
In the hat, what was in it?
- An comb. - A what?
An golden comb. A decoration for woman.
- It attracts the lightning. - What kind of comb was it?
A Chinese comb.
- A devil with a head of a monkey. - A devil...
And what where you doing then?
I? Nothing.
Vidocq went on with it alone.
- Why? - I don't know.
Maybe it was the iron. I became to sensitive.
What did he do afterwards?
- Give me an Trail. - I should have found him.
I could have avoided it. Goddamnit.
I had him...
Okay. I will be back.
We are not getting anywhere, Sir.
They saw Vidocq arrive. They don't know why.
And the wel? Why exactly did he go there?
Nobody knows.
Continue with the investigation. They're hiding something.
Who informed the newspapers?
I want to know that too.
Damnit, Tauzet, this way we are making fools of ourselfs?
I did not see the corpse yet.
The corpse?
The corpse of Vidocq.
What do you think? That I've never seen a corps before?
- Can I speak with you? - Not now.
Okay.
And talk about Vidocq, is that possible?
Louis Belmont, Simon Veraldi, can there be spoken of?
You are the only from Paris Who wears such a decoraction.
I do not know where you are talking about.
you killed Belmont and Veraldi. I have prove.
You are it! The murderer with the lightning!
Okay. I am the murderer with the lighting. Who are you?
I am Etienne Boisset. A journalist.
I investigate the dead of Vidocq.
- You are not asian. - You are very perceptive.
And talkative.
- The coams for my story. - Why?
I tell you what I know and you give them back.
- Okay? - No, they are evidence.
They are accusing you of murder.
Do I look like a monster to you?
I'm listening.
François, you know me.
You can't accuse me of...
Didn't you put them on their hats?
Preah, damned. What happened with you?
I can't cover you very long. I pushed my co-worker aside, but...
Two weaks ago I received a letter with money.
I had to put the coam in the hat of Belmont and then in in the hat of Veraldi.
I did what they asked. I don't know who payed.
And you didn't wonder why?
I thought that people were setting them up.
Why not? They were rich clients.
And the letters weren't threatening?
- Threatening? - Were they written in blood?
No.
They were parfumed. Elegantly written.
I even thought of a woman.
- Do you still have them? - Have what?
Preah, who is next on the list?
Who says that there is still a coam?
Heaven.
Tell me who's next.
Ernest Laffite, the director of the Hotel of Invalids.
Wait. I'm coming with you.
- What are you doing? - Leave me alone.
I work for the prefect.
- Alright. What did you do on the roof? - Nothing.
I thought I saw a shadow. I'm taking her home. She is ill.
Here.
- The other two? - Personal archive.
It isn't a political scheme.
Belmont and Veraldi, that's possible, but not Laffite.
That they are weapons suppliers, is a coincidence.
They died for the same reason. Revenge.
A revenge. Well planned.
And the game with the lightning...
That sounds like a kind of heavenly justice.
But you have also seen the killer. And the pigeons.
- Did you see how he dissapearred in his cloak? - A magic trick.
Magic, give me a break.
- And the mask? - Also fits with revenge.
- I don't think so. - A mirror.
- Almost like the men had to see themselves. - You're talking nonsense.
I knew them well. They were weird, but harmless.
Weird? What do you mean by weird?
- Is that everything you did? - They never touched me.
What? You mean they loved other men?
They loved their appearance, their body...
their own face. They loved themselves.
Is that the reason they died?
No idea. That's what Vidocq thought. He thought there was more to it.
That they knew too much.
Certainly. Dandy's that dressed up. The lightning.
A mirrormask. It can be more easy.
Where did he went to? Vidocq.
No idea. But I do know that he died because of me.
No, he died because of the investigation.
No. He worked alone. To protect me.
That's why he's dead.
Did you know him for a long time?
Mister Police Officer, we shall see if you're good.
Find the opening in my rug.
The secret of the Khmer-dancers.
It's being made on the body. Without buttons or needles.
What kind...
- How was your relationship? - Professional.
We had a professional relationship.
Good. There you go.
Is that a joke?
Tomorrow, same time.
We are wondering where you're from.
- From Santer. - Never heard of it.
A small village in the Provence.
c Did you meet Vidocq? - No, I wrote him.
He agreed to go through parts of his biography.
- Biography? - More then just a biography.
A real book. A massive book about Vidocq.
I have to find the killer for my last chapter.
This is how I can avenge Vidocq.
- Do you admire him? - I know everything about him.
How he escaped. How he joined the Police Force.
- How he aprehended hundreds of criminals. - He was no angel.
Don't try to put him down.
He rat on his friends to join the police force.
Everyone knows that. It's in my book.
Vidocq wanted to catch gangsters, using every means if necessery.
He thought differently. He felt guilty. That gave him strength.
That lead him to this investigation.
He was convinced that everybody had a secret side.
That's why those three men died.
You didn't say everything. Where did he go after the hotel?
- Forget it. You can't handle it. - Tell me what you know!
He thought they were perverts. He wanted to pursue that lead.
He wanted to go, there where was crime.
The neighborhood around the prison.
Thank you, Preah. Thank you.
- How is our investigation going? - Someone is missing sir.
De chief of the glas blowers. He appears to be gone.
He's hiding. And the others are covering for him.
I knew it.
He saw something and he's trying to hide himself
He's terrified.
- What's wrong? - Nothing. Nothing.
- Find him before tomorrow morning. - Don't worry.
Don't worry? Belmont, Veraldi and Laffite are dead.
And Vidocq, our best researcher, as well.
The best. And you tell me not to worry?
- Sir... - It's enough!
Paris is on the edge of a revolution.
The facturies in Belmont have stopped. Nobody is producing weapons anymore.
If they are political murders, why kill Laffite, a doctor?
That's part of their plan. Their diabolical plan.
Guard the area around the prison. If the smallest thing happens you check it out.
And you are going back to the factory.
Question the workers again.
I'm sure that there is something to find. Come on! I'm coming as well.
Minister Polignac is here. I have to stay.
Come on!
Sylvia, the boss.
What could pleasure the young man?
The fire of Zanzibar?
The salt of Guérande?
The wind of the desert?
No, excuse me, I don't want a girl.
I'm investigating the death of Vidocq.
The holy virgin Maria.
- He rests in peace. - you knew him, didn't you?
- He was more then a customer. A friend. - I want to know who killed him.
- Who doesn't? - I want to get to the bottom of this.
- That is hell. - Hell.
- Three men interested him. - Belmont, Laffite and Veraldi.
- Customers of you? - No.
The house didn't have the products they were interested in.
Products that were very rare.
Products? Which products?
Virgins. Young virgins.
Pure beings, as they called them.
To do what?
What do you think?
- I don't believe you. - Those bastards went to the poor.
They bought their children. That isn't missing here.
- I don't believe you. - You bore me.
Go to the Furet, the paper. Two blocks ahead.
Ask for Froissard. He knows everything about it.
The Furet. Froissard. Journalist.
- Understood? - Yes. Thank you.
April 15 1830. Whitness of Perrine Dorin.
Whitness of Simone Ménand.
Whitness of Etienne Valmont.
May 3 1830. June 24 1830.
Area of the prison.
What are you doing here?
- Answer. What are you doing here? - An investigation.
An investigation? About what?
The death of Vidocq.
- You? - I'm his biographer.
His official biographer.
Dissapear, stupid being. You're dumber then dumb.
You think you're that strong?
Truth stinks. What can I do?
- Why don't you warn the police? - I'm waiting for my time.
I know everyone who put this all together.
He who inspired the three perverted men.
Are you surprised?
The death of Vidocq surprised me. Otherwise it would've been arranged.
Vidocq and I were on the same track.
- What track? - The factory.
- The glassfactory? - Yes.
And the connection with the lightning?
- The murders? And the virgins? - Trade secrets.
I went there when he died.
That's why I publiciced it first.
Froissard, the fastest writer in Paris.
Are you crazy? It's not a competition. It's about murder.
Everything okay?
Yes, I give advice to the new guy.
It isn't the right time.
We need you. Come on.
It's okay. I'll come.
I know why you didn't warn the police.
- You don't have anything concrete. - Facts.
- Bits and pieces. - I have witnesses.
Drunks. Alcoholics.
- I have a first class whitness. - Who?
Myself.
I would like to become a monk, but there was an orgie being prepared.
- I don't believe you. - Ask Marine Laffite.
- Marine Lafitte? - The doctors wife.
Where can I find her?
Don't look. She can't talk anymore.
- Is she dead? - Almost.
Opium, my boy. Opium.
Completely dried out.
She hasn't came out of her house since her husband died.
Don't search. You can't handle it.
Are you forming some kind of conspiracy?
- And? - Nothing.
- Didn't found the blazer? - No. They know nothing.
Or they are very affraid.
I have spoken with Polignac.
Charles X abolishes the freedom of the press, and the representatives.
- Damned. - Like you said.
What do we have to expect?
Revolt.
The civilians will come on the street and we'll have to lock ourselves up somewhere...
in our own dungeons and wait for backup.
Let them go. Too bad for the witness.
We komen niets meer te weten.
And the guards in the neighbourhood of the prison? And the control?
We give up.
Tommorow whe have other cats to meet.
- A comment... - What?
Kids out of the glassblazery talked about something weirds.
- Something that comes back al the time... - Wel?
They talk about some kind of monster in de glassblazery. A ghost.
A creature with a mirror instead of the face.
Doesn't that ring a bell?
Weird. A legend in the neigbourhood. Something to scare people off or something.
When there was a crime, it was always that creature.
Pure superstition.
Is that everything?
I thought...
Maybe we've always been on the wrong track.
Maybe that creature has something to do with the murders, with Vidocq.
Are you crazy?
Do you belive in ghosts?
Go to sleep, M. Tauzet.
I don't have to trace that spur?
Go to sleep.
Within several hours it won't be ghosts who will attack.
Marine Laffite?
Are you Marine Laffite?
- What do you want? - I don't have time for courtesy.
I am a reporter. I investigate the murder of Vidocq.
Vidocq was killed...
Why do you laugh?
Because it is my fault.
- Why? - Don't you get it?
Don't you get it that it was me who drove him in the arm's of the monster?
Which monster? Tell me.
- When did you see Vidocq? - Two day's ago.
- In my salon. - Say it.
Do you want to die? - I want to know what happened
- First my dosis - No.
Who's in charge here?
They're coming... They're coming
Tell.
Everything has started with Ernest. And his rage.
The rage of somebody who loves himself.
And who doesn't want to get old.
That's also a way to intepretate it.
Your husband was a dandy and perverse. He dealt in virgins.
Silence. You don't know anything.
Ernest took care of his looks like a piece of art.
He saw himself as a piece of art
But the age did his job.
He didn't talk about anything else. He didn't saw me standing anymore.
Only his wrimpels and skin were important.
All those things which destroyed him.
And every night he saw the other two
Belmont and Veraldi?
One night I followed him
With this our skin will look better.
That's wht you told me last time.
What do you think to win by doing this?
Time in time?
Some bewitched powder.
And your youth comes back?
I've got a proposition.
- What can you offer us? - What you're looking for?
Eternal youth.
What?
The lifeelixir.
Bullshit. Nobody has that kind of power.
Nobody, except for me.
What do you want in return for it?
I need some sort of material.
Deliver it to me and you will get the elixir
What kind of material?
Virgins.
Young virgins.
Pure creatures.
- Did they bought them for that? - Why else?
- It was nothing sexual? - Something sexual?
They passed that stage. I know it for sure.
No, it not the beauty The elegance.
A work that has to escape from time
- But who was the man with the mask? - The alchemyest.
- Who? - The alchemyest.
He is wandering in the neighbourhood of the prison
And trough the mirror he sucks up his victims.
Don't laugh, don't laugh. He has the life-elixir. That's for sure.
And he needed virgins for the elixir.
That poison has affected your memory.
I don't know why I listen.
Because you are affraid. Just like me. Just like Ernest.
- Like everybody. - You are delirious.
Be carefull. When your mirror disappears, you're lost.
- Your soul is lost. - You are crazy.
Weeks went by.
Ernest and the other two kept supplying virgins.
They dried them.
I wanted it to stop.
Yes, I wanted it.
But the opium was to strong. Stronger than everything else.
Ernest was ripped by remorse.
On a night he said that it was enough.
eight deliveries and still no elixir.
You lied.
You have no secret, no elixir. Noting.
You are... evil itself.
More. I need more.
No. It is enough.
I need more.
That night he told me everything. He didn't deliver girls anymore.
That is why the alchemyest killed him?
After Belmont and Veraldi it was his turn.
- You said that to Vidocq? - Yes.
- What did he do? - Why doesn't he come?
What did Vidocq? What did he do?
- He took our horses. - Why?
He thought the horses knew the way to the lab
Knew? Why? Anser.
- Answer. - 8 deliveries. Can't you count?
The horses knew the way.
Where is the lab? Where is it?
- Go away. Let me do it. - Where is it? Answer me.
If I knew, I was dead already.
I'm almost done.
Religion, rumors, superstition.
A legend.
One of the oldest legends.
The alchimist would be a murdered and a scholar.
All non solved crimes were commited by him.
Some say he doesn't have a face, others say he has all faces.
Others call his face a mirror that sucks up souls.
Who see's himself in the mask, loses his soul.
Open up.
I have to talk to you, sir.
What are you doing here?
Etienne Boisset. Biograph of Vidocq. I'm investigating his death.
That is the best.
Get that man.
Tell us what you are doing here.
My men talked about someone like you. A man who walked on the street.
Sir, look.
What did I told you? Vidocq researched the alchemyest.
Damned. He exist.
- It is no legend. - I'll explain.
It is clear, very clear.
Vidocq chased the alchemyest...
and the alchemyest pushed him in the pit.
- Maybe... - What else?
Laten we de zaken nog eens op een rij zetten.
Imagine that the alchemyest is the one behind the lightning. And that the alchemyest is Vidocq himself.
I don't understand it.
The lightning, the murders, the mask.
Didn't somebody else commited that before?
And that also explains these instruments...
and the mask here, not?
- And Vidocq himself fell in the pit? - Listen.
Or he setted up his own dead.
Whe only found a pile of ashes.
It is a bautifull end for a manipulating villan?
Allow me, sir, but that sounds...
to complicated. - Listen.
Listen.
Vidocq and the alchemyest are two different persons. I've got prove.
It seems he knows his case well.
Which prove?
Let me go.
Vidocq battled with the alchemyest when Laffite died.
I have a witness.
- And all those instruments? - Vidocq is a scientist.
He worked on a paper formula.
And that? Is that for the decoration?
Who says the alchemyest is one person?
You are crazy.
There can be two thiefs behind the mask.
Vidocq and the other monster.
Nimier for example.
You are crazy.
No, nevermind. It's alright.
- Do you take...? - Prove.
Take it easy okay?
And calm down now.
what does this has to mean?
Where do you come from?
He carries a mirror, doesn't he?
On the place of his face there is a mirror.
How did you escaped? How?
What did he do?
What does he do with de girls? What does he do?
Where is his lab?
What dirty tricks.
Bastard.
I know the secret of the monster. The mirror is alive.
The mask is an energiereceptor...
Some kind of pump.
The alchemyest steals the souls...
on the moment that he Killes his fictem.
He locks them up trough his mask...
and he feeds himself with it so he doen't get older.
The achemyest uses the virginity blood...
for the glass of the mirror.
It is the pureness of the blood...
that gives him life.
If I'm right, I know where he is.
The killer doesn't make the mask himself, only the material.
Hij has an accomplice. A glasscraftsman. I know where he is.
In the glassblazery of the arsenal.
And, asshole? Working?
Where did you get that? And always snuffling around?
Atleast I'm searching.
And me? You think I did nothing?
I started all over.
Calm down. I started all over.
What does that change? What do you know that I don't know?
I know why Vidocq was in the blazery.
I know who he was chaseing. And what his goal was.
Do you talk about the alchemyest?
You are behind. Now you have to find his accomplicee.
Do you meen the glassblowers?
Yes. He saw everything.
- He was there when Vidocq died. - What?
Tonight I talked with the blowers.
I knew they where hiding someone. And they understood that they had to talk.
in exchange for my protection.
- Is he going to tell everything? - He doesen't have a choice.
It is me or the algemyest.
- Are you going there? - You understand everything.
- Take me with you . - You want to go with us?
Take me with you. I also want to nail the alchemyest.
Also I want to revenge Vidocq.
- We are going. - Where to?
Where nobody is looking yet. In the glassblazery.
With Froissard with us we're with two.
And that dork is always to fast for us.
And the alchemyest, who killed al the witnesses, is following him.
It is almost his turn. And we'll lose him.
- No, my lord. - I know where he is.
With Nimier.
They have found the blower.
It is time for the truth.
Put this on. For the gasses.
We used poisened material.
Tell everything that you saw.
Don't be afraid. They are here to protect you.
He said he was looking for the devil.
But he was it himself.
He wants a new mask. He brought the materials.
When does he come back?
When?
- He is here. - What?
In the coolchamber.
The mask is done. He must be there. I may not enter there if he...
wait!
If I must die, I want to see your face.
Vidocq dying voluntary? Impossible.
I swear that I saw that.
When he saw his face, he threw himself in the well.
Did you see his face?
No, I only saw his back.
Damned, all that for nothing. This was my last change.
Police officer.
You haven't lost anything. Nobody know's anything. Nobody saw anything.
Nobody will ever know who the alchemyest is.
Is that so?
I want to see your face.
It is not because of your face that I let you go.
It is cause of what I saw in the mask.
When they pulled me out, I was supposed to be dead.
Death for everybody.
They'd hidden me and took care of me.
I let Nimier come.
I knew it was you who was walking behind my dead body.
which disguise is beter then Etienne?
Fucking mask.
Nimier.
Leave him for me. He's stuck.
Bastard.
I want to see the dead body. Let me see it.
I wanted to see you.
I wanted to be sure it was real.
Damned. I rather pass on something like that.
And now?
It is done, the people march to the Louvre...
And Charles X is on the run.
Is that going to change anyting?
For them I don't now. Everything is arranged for me.
- Why? - In the best case, The Prison.
The worst, the guillotine. or visa versa.
Are you going to leave France?
No, I'll take my responsibility.
After all we have been through...
Damned. How could this happen?
For our friend Jean-François Mall