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A legend. One of the oldest legends of the Temple District. The Alchemist is a killer and a scientist. The residents believe all the unsolved murders are his doing. Some say he has no face, others say he has many. Still others say, whoever looks into his mask, loses their soul.
~ Tauzet reading about The Alchemist.
Alchemist: What good will that do to you? A little time in this world? A touch of magic powder, and then your youth will be restored...? I've got a deal for you.
Ernest: What are you selling?
Alchemist: What you're looking for... Eternal youth. A potion of eternal youth.
Ernest: Nonsense, no one has that power.
Alchemist: No one, but me!
Veraldi: What do you want in exchange?
Alchemist: I need an item. If you provide it, you'll get the potion of eternal youth.
Belmont: What item...?
Alchemist: Virgins. Young virginal girls. Pure souls.
~ The Alchemist deceiving Lafitte, Belmont and Veraldi into working for him.

Étienne Boisset, also known as The Alchemist (French: l' Alchimiste) is the main protagonist of the 2001 fantasy-mystery film Vidocq (also known as Dark Portals: The Chronicles of Vidocq), based in the memoirs of the actual historical figure.

He is a centennial being that found the key of eternal youth by collecting the souls of the innocent people he killed, using a glass mask developed from the blood of virgin girls. He managed to maintain this lifestyle until the reign of Charles X of France, where his recent killings are being investigated by Eugène Vidocq, who is determined to hunt down the urban legend at all costs.

He was portrayed by Guillaume Canet.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Étienne was a young alchemist who, many centuries ago, discovered a way to develop eternal youth: Étienne paid glass makers to create a mirrored mask made from the blood of young virgin girls. This mask was actually a catalyst, in which he could imprison the souls of the people he killed, by reflecting their faces at the moment of death. Using a hooded costume, and armed with a knife and his mask, Étienne used the dark of the night to hunt down his prey. He created a name for himself as an urban legend within the places he attacked. He quickly understood that if he wanted to work in secrecy, he couldn't go for victims himself.

He instead changed his MO to treacherous tactics, as he often deceived desperate people with a "potion of eternal youth". In exchange, they must give him many virgin girls, often bought from poor districts. In order to cover his tracks, Étienne killed his associates in different ways, some of them involving the usage of lightning. This tactic proved successful until the year of 1830, where he made the fatal mistake of killing Belmont and Veraldi, two important men involved in the creation of weapons for the French army.

The government tasked Vidocq and Nimier, two incredibly successful private detectives, to investigate the mysterious "lightning murders" and bring the culprit to justice. Little did they know that they were chasing ghosts, trapped in a conspiracy where the mysterious Alchemist is lurking in the shadows waiting to strike.

Vidocq[]

Alchemistwins

Vidocq defeated by the Alchemist.

In the year of 1830, Paris, famous private investigator Eugène Vidocq pursues a mysterious masked figure inside a glass factory. He chases him to a furnace room where they both engage into a fight, with Vidocq losing. He is pushed inside of the furnace, hanging on the edge, but before dying, he demands to know the real face of his killer. The hooded man complies and takes off his mask. With his last wish granted, Vidocq lets go and seemingly burns to death.

The voice runs in whole Paris that the national hero was dead. The news reach the ears of journalist Étienne Boisset, who was tasked by Vidocq himself to create his biography. Étienne believed that he could avenge Vidocq if he discovered his killer's identity and posted it in his book. He visits Vidocq's partner René Nimier in order to find answers. Nimier tells him that they were both tasked by Lautrennes (Paris police chief) to investigate the "Lightning Conspiracy", Belmont and Veraldi, two important men involved in the gunpowder bussiness (arms dealer and chemist specifically) were struck by lightning in the same storm at almost the same time. The movie moves into a flashback about the investigation. Lautrennes believes this is part of a plot to strike the military and make them enter into a political stalemate (a real life event known as the July Revolution). They visit the gunpowder factory to look for answers, and they see how a worker catched fire. They come to the conclusion that both Belmont and Veraldi's clothes might have gunpowder on them, but the owner of the factory dismisses the idea, as their clothes were always washed by the washerwomen. They visit them and they interrogate Belmont's personal washman, Gandin, who tells them he didn't wash Belmont's frock coat that day as he received a menacing letter written in blood telling him not to do it. Vidocq comes to the conclusion that it would be impossible for the lightning to strike without a metal catalyst. He searches in both men top hats and finds metallic hair pins.

Thealchemistpidgeons

The Alchemist summoning pidgeons to distract Vidocq.

The movie is taken back to the present. Nimier denies to tell Boisset more as he was taken out of the case at that point. Meanwhile, Lautrennes tasks another detective called Tauzet to investigate Vidocq's death. Boisset sneaks into Nimier's office and steals the hair pins, in order to continue with the investigation. He traces them back to a woman named Préah, a dancer who poses as asian in a brothel, and who also was Vidocq's lover. He tells him that Vidocq managed to trace her back too. In the flashback she confesses to him that she got a letter with money (although not menacing like Gandin's) telling her to put the pins inside both men's hats, as they were clients. She also reveals that there was a third target: Ernest Lafitte, doctor and owner of an orphanage. Vidocq and Préah rush to try to save Lafitte but it was too late: The killer got him first. Vidocq tries to pursue the mysterious masked man onto the roof, but he proves to possess outstanding fighting and acrobatic abilities. Vidocq realizes he was fighting with something more than human when the hooded figure jumps from the roof and lands unharmed. Since Lafitte didn't work for the government, Vidocq comes to the conclusion that the killings were actually made out of vengeance. Préah also tells him that the three men were involved in really narcissistic activities that involved praising their bodies more than anything.

Thealchemistkills

The Alchemist killing Froissard.

Back to the present again, Préah guides Boisset to the next place Vidocq went to investigate: The Temple District, a boulevard known for its brothels. He interrogates Sylvia (a major brothel manager) and she tells him that Vidocq was trailing the three men, but that her place didn't have the products they were looking for: Virgin girls. Instead, they resorted to buy them from poor families around the district. She tells him to go see Froissard, journalist for The Furet newspaper who was also investigating the activies of the three men. He reveals that he is close to discover the identity of the ringleader, their boss, as he was following Vidocq's lead: The glass factory. He tells Boisset to try his luck with Marine Laffite, Ernest's wife who entered in a spiral of depression with opium after his death. Boisset leaves the scene, but Froissard is visited by the masked man, who cuts his throat open and steals all of his work about the case, including evidence about Marine's whereabouts.

Thealchemistmeeting

The Alchemist meeting with the three men for the first time.

Back at the glassworks, Lautrennes orders a more exhaustive investigation. Tauzet comes up with an unusual idea: Children of the glassworks are talking about a mysterious monster that has a mirror where his face should be. He believes the creature is linked to the murders. Lautrennes quickly dismisses the idea, but Tauzet is determined to continue with that hint. Boisset visits Marine and she tells him how her husband and his friends were deeply obssessed with their own beauty, but the idea of geeting older terrified them. One night, they were visited by the masked man who offered them a deal: Virgin girls in exchange for a potion of eternal youth that he claimed to know how to develop. And so they started to buy off virgin girls, drug them and bring them to the man's hideout. Marine refers to this misterious figure as The Alchemist. She says that Ernest had enough with this bussiness consumed by guilt, while the others got fed up with the Alchemist's delay, and so they stopped the deliveries. This is what got them killed. She tells Vidocq approached her before, as he believed her husband horses knew the way to the lab. After Boisset leaves, the Alchemist enters the scene and murders Marine.

Thealchemistmaskmaterial

The Alchemist's mask material.

Meanwhile, Tauzet investigates The Alchemist's story. He discovers that he is a very ancient legend in the Temple District, a monster that traps souls inside his mask. He notices the Alchemist is following Boisset to dispose of possible suspects. Boisset sneaks up into the national archive and steals Vidocq's files, but he is intercepted by Lautrennes and Tauzet. He escapes and reads how Vidocq entered the Alchemist's lab, a place full of gore where he harvests the blood of the virgin girls. He confronts him and manages to get a piece of his mask, made of blood. The mask is a catalyst that sucks energy. With this, he can steal the souls of his victims and gain eternal youth. However, he doesn't make his own mask, he only collects the materials. He needs the help of glass makers to create the mask, a lead that led him to the glassworks, place where he met his end at the hands of the man he was pursuing. Nimier and Préah arrive the scene, and decide to let Boisset follow them into questioning the glass blower that worked for the Alchemist.

Reveal and Defeat[]

Thealchemistreveal

Étienne unmasking himself before Vidocq.

They interrogate the glass blower but it proved useless, he didn't see a thing. Lautrennes arrives the scene with gun in hand, and then we see that the glass blower was Vidocq himself in disguise. The movie is taken to a flashback at the beginning of the movie, where its seen that the man behind the mask was Étienne himself, The Alchemist. Vidocq saw in a reflection from his mask a hole in the furnace walls, it was the reason why he jumped in it, to fake his own death. The glass workers and Nimier were part of it too. He created this plot just to let Boisset's guard down, as he knew he would try to destroy the evidence. Boisset lets go a sinister scream, and then quickly disguises himself as The Alchemist. Nimier recklessly tries to kill Boisset by shooting his mask, but he teleports the bullets back to him, killing him. He then tries to escape. However, Vidocq already foresaw this situation, so he prepared some traps for him: The Alchemist's souls can escape if he is in front of mirrors, so he sets up a room full of them.

Alchemistdefeat

Étienne's defeat.

They both engage into a fight, breaking all the mirrors in the proccess, but Vidocq manages to grab a mirror shard and put it in front of Étiennes mask, releasing all the souls of his countless victims. Étienne fights back and stabs him in the gut, but just before he has the chance to escape, Vidocq gains strength and impales him with a big mirror shard, throwing him to a window and plummeting him into the sea. They attend to Nimier's funeral some days later. Vidocq is not happy as he never got to see the corpse of his archenemy. The ending proves his fears, as the golden shine of Étienne's mask is seen, following with the sound of a knife.

Personality[]

The Alchemist is a being that is purely out for himself and his own selfish goals. He is only interested in never growing old, and as its usual for characters of his kind, he will do anything in his command to accomplish his goals. He has full understanding of the harm he is causing, but has zero empathy for other human lives, whom he views as mere cattle. He is a master deceiver who takes advantage in the misery and despair of the less fortunate in order to manipulate and use them to accomplish his means, but also lacks any sense of honor and never returns anything in favor, killing his associates as a form of self-preservation but also as part of his purely egotist nature. Although sadism is not his main motivation, it is shown that he at least has been taking some form of pride and enjoyment in his own dire work, often laughing and taunting Vidocq, his arch-enemy.

Gallery[]

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