The Perfect Crime

Max is an atypical detective in Paris. He's independently wealthy, a touch arrogant and obsessed with catching criminals in the act so there can be no doubt of their guilt. When he stumbles on an unambitious gang of scrap-metal thieves who are unaware of Max's true profession, he convinces them to go for a big score and tackle bank robbery. Posing as a haughty bank inspector, Max implicates himself in the scheme for professional reasons at first but soon finds himself drawn to Lily, the girlfriend of burglar-in-charge Abel. The deeper he inveigles his way into the criminal fraternity, the more problematic his life becomes. Can he pull the trigger on his original plan, or will he shoot himself in the foot in order to save Lily? Claude Sautet's Max and the Junkmen is a sophisticated heist movie from a master director. It screens at 7 p.m. tonight at Webster University's Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood Avenue; 314-968-7487 or www.webster.edu/filmseries) as part of the Classic French Film Festival. Tickets are $10 to $12.
Sat., June 15, 2013