The version of this that I saw was 23 minutes shorter than the runtime listed in the IMDb, so, these comments may be only half valid. It was a multi-lingual effort, with English subtitles when the dialogue was in French, German or Italian - no dubbing. (The narration was in English.) Perhaps we are to be impressed with the language skills of the leading man. It's set in Monaco in the second half of the 1950s, about twenty years after the guy went from his native Germany to Washington, D.C. It fits that this occurred because of his mastery of linguistics. But then he returned to the fatherland to participate in WW II, his memories of which are shown to parallel much of what he experiences today. Now he is a jewel thief, and, we share some of his encounters on the day after a partially successful swipe: while hitchhiking, he is picked up by a gay, martial-arts-accomplished, French-speaking John Claude van Damme; he woos a lady-photographer, who, it turns out, is a pick-pocket, herself; and he demonstrates that craft, with a trio of females as his victims. My only negative impression is an occasional over-attempt at humor. Otherwise, it's a fairly unobjectionable depiction on film.
Review of Monaco Forever
