The Swindle

Among recent Hitchcock ripoffs -- Brian De Palma's overblown Snake Eyes, Gus Van Sant's redundant Psycho -- Claude Chabrol's The Swindle is less of a cheat than the rest. Derivative of the master in his less suspenseful, more romantic mode -- say, To Catch a Thief -- this is the story of a pair of small-time grifters who stray "out of their league," as Victor (Michel Serrault), the éminence grise of the team, puts it. His accomplice Betty (Isabelle Huppert, in blancmange mode), tired of duping dentists at conventions, sets them up with Maurice (François Cluzet, whom Betty asks to remove his sunglasses because he "looks like Peter Sellars," thus eliminating his personality), a high-finance type with a valise full of Swiss francs. That MacGuffin involves them with nasty characters in a picturesque Caribbean resort and a much-telegraphed double and triple cross. The relationship between Betty and Victor is more compelling and mysterious than their scams; he's old enough to be her father, and she calls him "daddy," so maybe he is. Like the valise's combination, this is by the numbers, but twisted and atmospheric enough not to leave you feeling robbed.

-- Peter Keough