Melody for a Hustler

French novelist Vincent Ravalec made his directorial debut with this French drama about smalltime crook Gaston Yvan Attal who poses as a millionaire after he picks up hitchhiking 16yearold MariePierre Virginie Lanoue Actually living in a seedy apartment Gaston deals in stolen goods but he soon climbs to bigger heists including car thefts Concealing his illegal activities Gaston operates his company Extramill out of upscale posh offices while he and MariePierre move into a sedate uppermiddleclass neighborhood Life is sweet but the onset of paranoia kinky sex activities and police probes eventually culminate in violence