Review of The Swindle

I have seen this film on several occasions and its wry, slightly surreal humour never fails to captivate. It survives multiple viewings. Each time that I see it, I notice (even in subtitling) more of the wonderful asides and throwaway lines in the dialogue, often by characters just passing out of the camera, that cover references to current affairs, history and even intertextual references to a wide range of other films. The film also hovers delicately on a tightrope between realism and wish fulfillment fantasy. It even treads delicately into a milieu that is more associated with the James Bond films, when the central couple tangle with a global Mr Big in the Carribbean, and again points to the fantasy elements in the Bond films and renders them even more fearie-like and magical. It also has a lightness of touch that is sometimes missing in modern French language cinema's earnestness and search for a non-conventional, bohemian, non bourgeois, non commercial positioning. The only time that it jolts out of its unified and deftly handled aesthetic is in the execution of the courier. The starkness of this scene indicates its non-Hollywood origins. Plotwise, Victor and Betty don't miss a beat despite this confronting warning. We all cheer when Victor with Betty still handcuffed to him is knocked out by the minders on the beach. There is of course a great final twist.

Whilst there are many affectionate cinematic tributes to conpeople with hearts of gold or lovable criminals, this is one of the very best. There is a great charm in this tale about two small time criminals with their somewhat principled crimes seeking to enter the big time. Rien Ne Vas Plus should be far better known to a general audience