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MOVIES / ON DVD / THE SWINDLE
The Swindle

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The Swindle (1997)

67%
75%
100%
N/A
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67 %
Reviews Counted: 24 Fresh: 16  Rotten:8 Average Rating: 6.3/10
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Synopsis:
In Claude Chabrol's fiftieth film, two lifelong partners in crime, Betty (Isabelle Hupert) and Victor (Michel Serrault), operating out of a small RV, criss-cross the country, hopping from convention to convention and scamming bourgeois businessmen out of petty sums of money. They make... [More]
In Claude Chabrol's fiftieth film, two lifelong partners in crime, Betty (Isabelle Hupert) and Victor (Michel Serrault), operating out of a small RV, criss-cross the country, hopping from convention to convention and scamming bourgeois businessmen out of petty sums of money. They make enough, however, to maintain a comfortable if elusive lifestyle. When Victor discovers that Betty has been carrying on her own scam for over a year, the blurry lines between secrets and lies break down. As the scheming duo go ahead with Betty's complicated scheme to steal a breifcase from a man (Francois Cluzet) who holds the treasure of a multinational corporation, the film kicks in to high gear. Filled with switched identities, changing allegiances, suppressed romances, and switcheroos, the elaborate story, which takes viewers from the Swiss Alps to the tropics, leads to an operatic and surprising climax. True to Chabrol's style, the ambiguous and compelling psychology, always in flux, propels the drama of the film forward even more than the actual danger of the plot. [Less]

Genre: Foreign Films

Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Michel Serrault, François Cluzet, Jean-François Balmer, Jackie Berroyer

Director: Claude Chabrol
Producer: Marin Karmitz

DVD Info

Release:

Aug 29, 2006

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Letterboxed - 16/9

Audio:

  • (unspecified) - French
  • Subtitles - English - Optional

Additional Release Material:

  • Short Film - LA FARFALE
  • Trailers - Theatrical Trailer

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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Ratings Image

As a cinematic confection from one of the masters, it's cotton candy, evaporating before it ever gets good.

Full Review | Comment
08/31/06 10:04 AM
David Cornelius
DVDTalk.com
Ratings Image

unfunny and unthrilling

Full Review | Comment
08/22/06 02:33 PM
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
07/01/06 04:18 AM
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
06/24/06 04:21 AM
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
07/21/05 11:04 PM
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
02/21/04 07:01 AM
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Ratings Image

The Swindle might not be a deep film, but it makes no missteps in showing us the steps these two small time crooks take as they attempt to pull off a big time con.

Full Review | Comment
07/29/02 06:51 PM
Jeremy Heilman
MovieMartyr.com
Ratings Image

Você pode até não rir durante a projeção, mas sairá do cinema com um sorriso de lado, admirado com a esperteza - e falta de escrúpulos - daquele casal tão simpático.

Full Review | Comment
05/31/02 02:06 PM
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
Ratings Image

It's another wickedly humorous psychological thriller that provides a showy part for [Chabrol's] favorite star, Isabelle Huppert.

Full Review | Comment
04/03/02 08:19 AM
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Ratings Image

A work of superb yet unpretentious film craftsmanship by a past master and an impeccable cast and crew.

Full Review | Comment
02/14/01 08:22 AM
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
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Ratings Image

While the film's leisurely pace makes some of the more dramatic scenes seem a little flat, the talented cast ultimately overcomes the film's shortcomings.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
E! Online
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

A failed attempt at frivolity.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
Amy Taubin
Village Voice
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Ratings Image

Trust no one. Suspect everyone. It will still have one more angle to unfold that you will not anticipate.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
Arthur Lazere
culturevulture.net
Ratings Image

The ambiguous pairing of Victor (Serrault) and Betty (Huppert) is both comfortable and playful.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
Bob Graham
San Francisco Chronicle
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Ratings Image

Pleases the eye without ever awakening the mind, offering a delicately told tale of intrigue and corruption without ever awakening the basic human passions which are supposedly its subject.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
Cynthia Fuchs
Philadelphia City Paper
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This is one of Chabrol's poorer films.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ratings Image

Chabrol's plot is silly, wholly unbelievable even for light fare, and downright confounding.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
Doris Toumarkine
Film Journal International
Ratings Image

It's a fluffy, good-natured exercise in style that succeeds just fine, but doesn't leave you wanting any more.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
G. Allen Johnson
San Francisco Examiner
Ratings Image

Illustrates the way that comedy is serious business, divulging remarkable intelligence to viewers about the human condition.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve
Ratings Image

Like The Grifters and Bound, The Swindle succeeds because, in addition to telling an engaging crime story with vivid characters, it never takes itself too seriously.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/00 12:00 AM
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
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