6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Betty and Victor are a pair of scam artists. One day Betty brings in Maurice, a treasurer of a multinational company. Maurice is due to transfer 5 millions francs out of Switzerland, and Betty is convinced he plans to steal that money. On whose side is Betty - Victor's, Maurice's or only her own?
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Michel Serrault, François Cluzet, Jean-François Balmer, Jackie BerroyerForeign | 100% |
Drama | 68% |
Crime | 8% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.67:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
French: LPCM 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Note: This film is available as part of 3
Classic Films by Claude Chabrol.
That famously French laissez faire attitude toward interrelationships, often but not always with regard to marriage, gets a rather surprising
workout in the trio of offerings on tap in 3 Classic Films by Claude Chabrol. As I’ve discussed in some previous reviews of Chabrol’s work,
Chabrol has often seemed a little like a square peg attempting to fit into round holes, at least as defined by others. He never totally conformed to at
least some of the nascent ideas of the
nouvelle vague despite often being branded as a fellow traveler with the likes of Godard and Truffaut. Similarly, while Chabrol has often
been
compared at least in passing to Alfred Hitchcock, and while many of Chabrol’s films at least skirt with thriller or mystery elements, and many of them
display the same kind of rationalist approach to often troubling psychological elements that Hitch’s films can, there are nonetheless very few set
pieces in
Chabrol
films that match the sheer technical audacity that is on display in some of Hitchcock’s best remembered work. Two of the three films in this set play
at
least tangentially off of various dysfunctions in married relationships, while the third, The Swindle (original French title Rien ne va
plus), rather cheekily refuses to overtly specify what kind of relationship its focal pair has with each other, at least in terms of personal intimacy.
All
three films have elements of suspense, but as with many of Chabrol’s films, the emphasis isn’t necessarily on a central mystery but rather how
characters respond to irrational elements, either in their own psyches or impinging on them from external sources.
The Swindle is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Film Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1. To my eyes, this is the most generally pleasing looking transfer in the Chabrol set, one helped by some scenic locales and a lot of well lit and/or outdoor scenes where the palette pops quite nicely, especially with regard to the series of red and orange outfits Huppert wears. While grain again occasionally has a bit of chunkiness in darker scenes, it generally resolves naturally and affords the presentation a nicely organic quality. Detail levels are generally fine as well, with elements like some of the fabrics or flyaway hairs on the various wigs Huppert dons in her disguises rendered with good precision.
The Swindle features an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 track in the original French, with forced English subtitles. As with the two other films in the Chabrol set, this dialogue heavy film may not offer tons of opportunity for "wow" sonics, but everything is presented very cleanly and clearly. As usual, Matthieu Chabrol's score is a bit on the odd side, but is presented without any problems whatsoever.
For all the variety that Chabrol's long and vaunted filmography provides, my hunch is few would ever think of him as a "comedy" director. And yet The Swindle is often quite wonderfully funny, buoyed by two pitch perfect performances by the always entrancing Huppert and the slyly curmudgeonly Serrault. The film's plot may not provide Sting level twists and turns, but Chabrol stages things briskly and this is probably the most beautifully scenic of all three films in this Chabrol set. Technical merits are generally strong, and The Swindle comes Highly recommended.
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