French Cinematheque: THE SWINDLE (Rien Ne Va Plus)

DIRECTED BY: Claude Chabrol

STARRING: Isabelle Huppert, Michel Serrault, François Cluzet

Co-presented by the Alliance Française of Greenwich 

Claude Chabrol: 1990’s Revisited - 3 Tales of Obsession And Suspense 

A brand new digital presentation!

THE SWINDLE is Chabrol's 50th film, made with the practiced ease of a master. The movie stars Isabelle Huppert and Michel Serrault as Betty and Victor (if those are indeed their real names). She's 40ish, he's 70ish, they're con artists, and it's impossible to say what their personal relationship is: friends? lovers? relatives? The movie starts with a warm-up con game. Betty poses as an available woman in a casino, and reels in a wealthy hardware dealer who they bilk. That caper establishes the working partnership. As the film ventures into a more complicated con--so complicated we're never quite sure if Betty and Victor are even conning each other--Betty has latched onto a financial courier (Francois Cluzet) for a crime syndicate, and has her eyes on the millions of Swiss francs in his locked briefcase. The courier is a polished man about Betty's age, and there's the hint of a romance between them. Or is that only in Victor's jealous eyes? Or is he really jealous? And is Betty planning to steal the money from Maurice and Victor? Or only from Maurice? Or is Victor planning to steal it from Betty? And what about the powerful criminals who consider the money, after all, to be their property? – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

In French with English subtitles | Not Rated | 105 minutes

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