Assassins et voleurs

Thief Michel Serrault enters the apartment of Jean Poiret. Poiret is trying to kill himself, but lacks the nerve. He offers Serrault 200,000 francs to kill him, and tell him the long and winding story of how an affair with Magali Noël led him to a long career of murder and thievery.

Sacha Guitry's movie sags a bit in the middle, but soon picks up, with the writer-director's typical disdainful, amoral, cynical witticisms. If Poiret's recitation of events is not as sparkling as Guitry's would have been, but Serrault's amiable audience is continually amusing. Darryl Cowl has a fine bit as a long-winded trial witness, and Lucien Baroux is wasted as the head doctor at a loony bin Poiret attends. If it is not as consistently sparkling as many of Guitry's works, there are many sections that are a lot of fun.