Les Marchands de Sable

Compared to Salvadori's earlier films, Wild Target and Les Apprentis, this is a slight disappointment, but, nevertheless, it's a nifty thriller in its own right. It starts at the end, with a fire in Riaboukine's Café le Détour. Flashback to ex-con Golovine's arrival in Paris, and her brother Demy's involvement in a nefarious network of drug deals around the same little circus of cafés, the film's centre of gravity. It's taut and observant, but essentially familiar, and though the cast are credible enough, the characterisation's not so deep that the film really drags you in. (See also Le Détour.