Hustle

Remarkable contemporary film noir that cuts the dirt and corruption of Los Angeles with a strain of allusions to (and, in the case of Reynolds' cop, illusions of) European romance. A perverse network of lies, guilts and evasions encompasses even Reynolds' love for hooker Deneuve, despite his misguided sense that he can exorcise one world to gain access to another by pursuing a spiralling investigation into the death of a call-girl on behalf of her dangerously distraught father. The toughly ironic parallels Aldrich imposes on Steve Shagan's customarily bitter script draw out a sense that everyone is hustling masochistically for impossible dreams; most audaciously, if the love story is seen as central, Aldrich provides Reynolds and Deneuve with the ultimate tinsel role model of Lelouch's A Man and a Woman.