Tricheurs (The Cheaters) is the last film Director Barbet Schroeder made before deciding to try his hand at directing in the US for a while. I'm not sure why he found the story so interesting that he was compelled to direct it.
Tricheurs is about a "high-roller" gambling addict Elric (played by French pop music star Jacques Dutronc) who meets a woman Suzie (Schroeder's real-life wife Bulle Ogier) at a casino located in Madeira, Portugal, an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean.
I'm not sure exactly who Suzie is but I think she's a fellow gambling aficionado who has just been dumped by her gambler boyfriend.
Elric gradually becomes attracted to Suzie but his addiction takes precedence.
The plot is a two-pronged affair. First Elric is approached by Jorg (Kurt Raab), a professional cheat who claims to have mastered the scam of "topping." It involves distracting the croupier of a game of roulette where a deft cheater can place a bet AFTER the game supposedly is completed.
Elric abandons Suzie and goes on a worldwide jaunt with Jorg where they manage to fleece numerous casinos.
Now bankrolled with cash, Elric pays a man big bucks to provide him with a radio controlled transmitter which enables him to control a magnetic ball during a roulette game.
Suzie is entrusted with a remote-control mechanism hidden in a cigarette pack and the two at first earn a large amount of ill-gotten winnings. But addict Elric blows most of his profit after Suzie walks out during the middle of the scam.
With a little money left, Suzie returns the next morning and makes back all that was lost. When the ball "explodes" during the middle of a roulette game, Jorg, in a disguise, is arrested at the table on the false assumption that he was responsible for the scam.
Elric and Suzie end up purchasing Elric's dream chateau where his father used to be the manager.
Tricheurs is basically all plot with little character development-unless you consider the chronicle of a gambling addict to be an insightful exploration of human behavior.
The acting is good enough, but the story is much of the same thing throughout-gambling and more gambling.
Again, what exactly was the purpose of making a film such as this? I suppose there's a modicum of suspense as we wonder if the two cheats get away with their scam. Ultimately most people don't need a film like this to convince us that gambling is an unproductive as well as a self-destructive life stratagem.
Tricheurs is about a "high-roller" gambling addict Elric (played by French pop music star Jacques Dutronc) who meets a woman Suzie (Schroeder's real-life wife Bulle Ogier) at a casino located in Madeira, Portugal, an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean.
I'm not sure exactly who Suzie is but I think she's a fellow gambling aficionado who has just been dumped by her gambler boyfriend.
Elric gradually becomes attracted to Suzie but his addiction takes precedence.
The plot is a two-pronged affair. First Elric is approached by Jorg (Kurt Raab), a professional cheat who claims to have mastered the scam of "topping." It involves distracting the croupier of a game of roulette where a deft cheater can place a bet AFTER the game supposedly is completed.
Elric abandons Suzie and goes on a worldwide jaunt with Jorg where they manage to fleece numerous casinos.
Now bankrolled with cash, Elric pays a man big bucks to provide him with a radio controlled transmitter which enables him to control a magnetic ball during a roulette game.
Suzie is entrusted with a remote-control mechanism hidden in a cigarette pack and the two at first earn a large amount of ill-gotten winnings. But addict Elric blows most of his profit after Suzie walks out during the middle of the scam.
With a little money left, Suzie returns the next morning and makes back all that was lost. When the ball "explodes" during the middle of a roulette game, Jorg, in a disguise, is arrested at the table on the false assumption that he was responsible for the scam.
Elric and Suzie end up purchasing Elric's dream chateau where his father used to be the manager.
Tricheurs is basically all plot with little character development-unless you consider the chronicle of a gambling addict to be an insightful exploration of human behavior.
The acting is good enough, but the story is much of the same thing throughout-gambling and more gambling.
Again, what exactly was the purpose of making a film such as this? I suppose there's a modicum of suspense as we wonder if the two cheats get away with their scam. Ultimately most people don't need a film like this to convince us that gambling is an unproductive as well as a self-destructive life stratagem.