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The Swindle

The Swindle (Rien ne va plus)

Movie · 1997 · 15 people

Originally titled Rien ne va plus, The Swindle is a crime comedy from 1997 that Claude Chabrol wrote and directed. A French-Swiss co-production shot in French, it runs about 106 minutes. The original title comes from the croupier's roulette call announcing that no more bets can be placed. The film opened in France on 15 October 1997 and in Germany on 8 January 1998.

The story centres on two skilled con artists who work their way around France, preying on delegates at business conventions. Each victim loses only a modest sum. One day the woman of the pair decides on a bolder job: a financier is about to carry millions in Swiss francs, and a game of seduction and false appearances is set in motion around him. The two end up with money belonging to launderers, and when the gangsters catch them they give back only a portion of what was taken. With the rest still in play, the partners must face each other over who keeps it.

Isabelle Huppert, Michel Serrault and François Cluzet share the leading roles. The cast also includes Jean-François Balmer, Marie Dubois, Jackie Berroyer, Greg Germain, Thomas Chabrol and Henri Attal. Part of the film was shot at the historic Waldhaus hotel.

DirectorClaude Chabrol

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Cast

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Michel Serrault Michel Serrault Actor · died at 79 Henri Attal Henri Attal Actor · died at 67 Isabelle Huppert François Cluzet Emmanuel Guttierez Greg Germain Jackie Berroyer Jean Benguigui Jean-François Balmer Marie Dubois Mony Dalmès Philippe Dana Pierre Martot Pierre-François Duméniaud Thomas Chabrol

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Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Chabrol's pair of con artists show the director's ironic eye at its most relaxed. The original title, taken from the croupier's call that no more bets can be placed, sums up the real subject well: a game in which everyone has staked something and it becomes unclear who is left holding what. The early stretch, in which modest sums are skimmed from convention delegates, sets out the pair's method with an elegant lightness. Once the story reaches the launderers and the millions in Swiss francs, though, the plot grows crowded and the balance between comedy and suspense slips at times. In my view what holds the film up is less the heist itself than the question of how far the two partners trust each other.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

If you want fast plans, surprise twists and plenty of tension from a con movie, this one takes a calmer road. The big job, built on seduction and false appearances, is intriguing, and the stakes rise once the gangsters step in. Still, there's more irony and game-playing than action. If pace is what you're after, bring some patience.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The film's swindlers prey not on gullible people in the street but on delegates at business conventions, a small detail that makes plain the irony Chabrol aims at the respectable bourgeois world. The really big money sits with a financier carrying millions in Swiss francs and turns out to belong to launderers. So the film reminds us, in the light tone of comedy, how thin the line is between respectable finance and organised crime. The difference between small-time crooks and the real owners of big money seems to lie less in morals than in scale.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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