Paris Connections (2010) starring Nicole Steinwedell, Anthony Delon, Trudie Styler, Charles Dance, Hudson Leick, Caroline Chikezie directed by Harley Cokeliss Movie Review

Paris Connection (2010)   1/51/51/51/51/5


Nicole Steinwedell and Anthony Delon in Paris Connections (2010)

Lossed Connection

Jackie Collins has sold over 500 million copies of her books so she certainly has a following but I wonder how many of those would be impressed with the adaptation of "Paris Connections" into a movie. I have never read the novel, in fact the only thing I knew before watching the movie was it was the first to be funded by Tesco, but this was a seriously disappointing, lifeless movie. Here we have a movie which is about murders surrounding the fashion industry but it is the most unglamorous looking fashion based movie I have seen and feels like it has been put together on a shoe string budget. Maybe fans of Collins' novel will enjoy seeing it brought to life but for me "Paris Connections" failed to connect.

Journalist Madison Castelli (Nicole Steinwedell) learns that a model she had spoken to for her last article has been murdered so arrives in Paris to try and get info on her death. It is whilst there that she bumps into photographer Jake Sica (Anthony Delon) who still has a thing for her although Madison is more focussed on her career than on romance. But whilst in Paris other models die leading to Madison and Jake to work together to try and solve the mystery which seems to surround Russian oligarch Aleksandr Borinski (Charles Dance).

Charles Dance as Aleksandr Borinski in Paris Connections (2010)

I a going to lay it on the line, "Paris Connections" is barely 90 minutes of nothing, we get some cheap looking shots of a staged fashion show, some romance between Madison and Jake, three murders and then rather than solving things the murderer reveals themselves. To me it makes this a movie which does nothing other than take various scenes from Collins' novel and re-enacts them but never weaves together a coherent storyline. For the most it spends more time focussing on the relationship between Madison and Jake which inevitably ends up in the sack which isn't that thrilling. And then to reveal things without bothering to really work its way there makes the rest of the movie pointless.

Here is the thing, as a movie I don't rate "Paris Connections" one little bit and feel that it ended up look over substance, I say look because it isn't stylish. But then I can see how Jackie Collins' novel could be turned into a decent movie one which delivers intrigue and a decent twist rather than one which you can guess with out any suggestion of. I can also see how this movie may appeal to fans of the book because so few of Collins's novels have been adapted into movies and so it is a rare treat. But unless you are a fan of her novels this movie seriously struggles from start to finish.

As for the acting well it feels like a lot of the budget may have been spent on getting Charles Dance to appear although his part is relatively small. In fact "Paris Connections" has a lot of small parts and unfortunately whilst the central pair of Nicole Steinwedell and Anthony Delon look good there characters are cliches, lacking anything close to substance. That is not the worst of it and there is some seriously shaky acting going on as well which makes it all the more of a struggle.

What this all boils down to is that I don't rate "Paris Connections" at all and it feels like someone has made a movie by trying to re-enact scenes from a book rather than telling the story. It may appeal to fans of Jackie Collins but for anyone else it is a movie to avoid.


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