This stylish film noir is filled with characters double-crossing each other and then exacting their revenge for the betrayal. Set in the post-war economic boom, the film explores how the qualities that make a driven entrepreneur successful in business can also lead to his downfall--though the path there is filled with twists and turns enough to keep the audience in suspense.

Jeanne Moreau is excellent as the wife caught between lover and husband. We're never quite sure what the character is thinking: is she really charmed to meet the minister or is it just good business? As often in French films of the period, foreign autos tell us a great deal about the characters: a Buick Special from the States for the husband and a flashy MG convertible from Britain for the lover.

The photography is excellent and the film's pace never flags as the plot zigs and zags its way to the conclusion.

(be warned - spoilers!) Derivative love-triangle yarn (even one of the characters describes it as "banal" at one point), but with some novel twists: the cheated-upon husband not only assumes a fake identity and blackmails the illicit couple for the fun of it, but later he decides to frame the lover as being the blackmailer himself! There are some well-executed gimmicks (like the near-wordless opening ten minutes; as if to compensate perhaps, the rest of the film is overly talky), and a very good performance by Gerard Oury, who is better known (to me, at least) as a director. Top-billed Jeanne Moreau has the secondary role here. **1/2 out of 4.