Demi Moore transcends the mediocrity and mistakes of her past in the well-crafted 'Flawless'

In an opening credit sequence reminiscent of Hollywood's more elegant days, a diamond is pulled from the mud, cut, polished, and placed on an unidentified finger. It is the South African Star, the fourth-largest cut diamond in the world. How it arrived on this woman's finger is the crux of "Flawless."

Demi Moore is Laura Quinn, an aged woman telling her story in flashback. Some of the information in the present-day introduction is teasingly misleading, planting expectations that are not always fulfilled. The red herrings are justified because they represent figurative, if not literal, truths.

The flashback begins in London, the 1960 period neatly established with soft lighting, Dave Brubeck's cool jazz, and political unrest coming from the Russian soapbox. Quinn, the first woman manager of the world's biggest diamond company, is passed over for a deserved promotion. When Mr. Hobbs (Michael Caine), one of the night maintenance men, invites her to be an accomplice in the perfect robbery, she, being already something of an embezzler, takes the bait.

As Quinn, Moore redeems herself from the mediocrity of her Brat Pack years ("About Last Night," "St. Elmo's Fire") and the career-killing mistakes of early adulthood ("Striptease" and "G.I. Jane"). Having matured into a convincing middle-age actor, she comes across as intelligent, sophisticated and driven.

Caine gives Hobbs a working-class twinkle with a touch of Alfie smirking through.

Director Michael Radford can work suspense into a situation without cheapening the scene. One example is the party at which Quinn searches for the combination to the company vault. He uses Hitchcock's technique of establishing an air of dread before the clandestine activities begin. Little touches, such as the reflection of a lightning storm in a landscape painting, help establish an ominous mood rife with suspicion and paranoia.

The heist itself is brief and taut. Radford uses a wonderful piece of music with a repetitive riff inside a squared-off rhythm to create tension as Caine measures the intervals during which the vault is out of sight of the security camera. When the vault finally opens, the music bursts free of its rhythmic constraints.

Although there's a surprise twist, its resolution takes a little too long to come about, so the end of the film feels somewhat labored. Still, the pleasure of watching such well-crafted entertainment offsets the small disappointments.