Film

The Swindle

Name: The Swindle
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Released: 1997
Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Michel Serrault, François Cluzet, Jean-François Balmer, Jackie Berroyer

Con-artist caper

Claude Chabrol's wry crime comedy follows Betty and Victor, mismatched drifters running petty cons across France in a motor-home until they're pulled into a sprawling international scheme. It's playful and sophisticated, full of elegant deception and the particular comedy of people scrambling to stay one step ahead. For anyone who likes crime stories where the real pleasure is watching intelligence at work.

TMDb rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy caper stories where the pleasure lies in clever, character-driven grifting and the easy rapport between two unlikely partners, with a dry, gently absurd wit running underneath.

Skip it if you want a tight, fast-moving thriller; this one wanders on purpose, lingers on small talk and modest schemes, and may feel slack if you're expecting constant momentum.

What it asks of you: It runs about an hour and forty-five minutes at an unhurried, conversational pace, asking you to settle into its quiet rhythms and to pay attention to faces and throwaway details.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Marnie1964

Hitchcock's psychologically acute thriller about a compulsive thief with a mysterious past. Like *The Swindle*, it's fascinated by the gap between what someone seems and what they actually are, and finds dark humour in theft and self-deception.

But It's deliberately slow and internal rather than plot-driven. The premise sounds pulpier than the film delivers.

A Fish Called Wanda1988

Crime caper with the same balance of clever scheming and genuine emotional stakes. The cast riffed brilliantly with each other, and the film never talks down to the audience about how con games actually work.

But It's broader and more anarchic than *The Swindle*—if you want elegance over chaos, this might feel too loud.

After the Thin Man1936

A witty mystery thriller where the pleasure comes from watching smart people out-think each other. The dialogue sparkles, the plot twist lands, and there's real warmth between the leads who clearly enjoy sparring.

But The pacing is 1930s pacing. If you need constant forward momentum, you might find the early stretches talky.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Swindle

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Contempt1963

Both are about deception and identity, but Godard disassembles the machinery while Chabrol hides inside it. One explodes form to examine marriage; the other uses genre to do the same work.

Godard's film about a filmmaker and his wife falling apart while attempting to make a film about mythology. It's also about a couple in crisis, surfaces vs. depths, the gap between performance and reality. But it works through colour and cutting instead of plot.

But It's visually radical in ways that demand patience. Not a narrative film in any conventional sense—it's closer to visual philosophy. Some will find it pretentious.

Diabolique1955

Chabrol's mentor Clouzot made this masterpiece about deception and murder masquerading as something else. It shares *The Swindle*'s understanding that the most dangerous criminals are the ones playing a long game.

But It's genuinely disturbing in places, with a famous bathroom scene that still unsettles. Much darker than the French film you're watching.

Rififi1955

The template for intelligent heist films. Nearly silent in places, visually precise, all about how professionals think. It trusts your intelligence and repays that trust completely.

But The moral world is stark and masculine in ways that feel dated. Also, very little dialogue means you need to concentrate throughout.

Sexy Beast2001

A crime thriller where the real subject is character and psychology beneath the scheme. Ben Kingsley's terrifying intrusion into a con artist's carefully built life forces the central couple to reckon with who they actually are.

But It's nasty and claustrophobic, with a deliberately irritating character who'll make you squirm. Not fun in the way *The Swindle* is fun.

The Good Thief2003

Neil Jordan's remake of *Bob the Gambler*, with Nick Nolte as an aging con man pulling one last score. It has the same motor-home-quality of characters drifting through Europe, improvising, surviving on wits.

But It's melancholic and slightly slack in places. The film meanders, which suits its mood but not everyone's patience.

Bitter Lake2015

A French thriller about people caught between wanting to con and wanting to connect. It shares Chabrol's eye for how charm masks desperation, and how couples can be teams and traps at once.

But It's harder to find, lesser-known even in France, and the pacing is genuinely unhurried. Not everyone clicks with it on first viewing.

The Grifters1990

A con artist thriller where family bonds and deception become tangled together. John Huston's final film, about the cost of a life lived as a scam. Taut and expertly made.

But It's fundamentally grim and cynical. There's little warmth or pleasure in the con itself, which might make it feel more exhausting than entertaining.