Review: Flawless

An opening montage surveys young Londoners briskly going about their business. All are women, if you notice. One arrives late for a lunch appointment with an older woman. “So you’re alive,” gushes the tactless young journo who’s doing a magazine series on England’s glass ceiling. “That’s great.” Demi Moore is badly made-up to play the aged Laura Quinn, an Oxford-trained American once employed by London Diamond Corporation. Quinn will talk about that “fiercely male environment.” But first she shows off a 168-carat rock she stole, and reaches over to hit “stop” on the reporter’s iPod recorder. Now the story can begin. Edward Anderson’s first screenplay, directed by Michael Radford (“The Postman,” “B Monkey”), goes back to 1960. Cue the Brubeck. Quinn was 38 then. The 45-year-old Moore gets far better designed make-up that telegraphs her intensity and isolation as the lone female in an elite corporation. She writes notes to herself: “don’t give up, work harder, you will win.” Michael Caine, whose mum once cleaned the Houses of Parliament, plays Hobbs, the night cleaning man. He retrieves her memo from the wastebasket and returns it with the annotation: “no you won’t.” Not only does he know she’s been passed-over for promotion six times in the last three years, he knows she will be fired soon. This is a good time to steal some diamonds, he says. The two undertake an inside heist. The premise is refreshing, the suspense is tricky and the denouement is minted. With Lambert Wilson, Joss Ackland, and Nathaniel Parker. 100m. Anamorphic 2.40 widescreen. (Bill Stamets)