Rent The Swindle (1997)

First class in every respect - The Swindle review by BL

A brilliant tour de force in terms of both acting and direction. Huppert is as always superb and supremely watchable and Chabrol is at the top of his form. I would be glad to view it again and again

Engaging - The Swindle review by CP Customer

Really watchable, such good acting, and leaving enough room for your own imagination.

The denouement (with Tosca) is such an artful mix of comedy and drama that i have never seen before.

The ultimate example of how to style it out to a gangster!

Its complex and keeps you guessing all the time. Its hard to say any more without being a spoiler alert.

I do think they should keep the original french title, as it suits the mood of the film so perfectly.

French Twist - The Swindle review by Steve

A couple of small time grifters who usually roll wage slaves at business conferences step up into the big league. Posing as a fake Colonel and a wealthy Russian dama staying at a ski hotel, they make a play for a suitcase full of money. But can they even trust each other... And is he really her father?

Claude Chabrol was enough of an old cineaste to realise that's a pitch for an Ernst Lubitsch precode comedy at Paramount, including the Parisian setting, the casinos and swanky resorts. Only rather than getting duped by another fake aristocrat, the laundered banknotes lead them to the mob.

The differences between this and a Lubitsch picture are informative. In 1997 there isn't the same glamour and romance. Isabelle Huppert and Michel Serrault are fine as the swindlers, but don't suggest the cosmopolitan charm of Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins in Trouble in Paradise (1932).

And maybe the point is... there is no longer a role in modern cinema- or life- for the sophistication of Lubitsch? Meanwhile, the twisty plot is functional rather than inspired. It's an entirely satisfactory entertainment, but I wonder if directing it made Chabrol feel as regretfully nostalgic as I did watching...