Racer and the Jailbird

Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue is the Warmest Colour) and Matthias Schoenaerts (A Bigger Splash) are lovers entangled in a world of crime in this tough, twisty thriller-romance

Love, crime and action combine in a taut and twisty thriller-cum-romance from the Belgian director of Bullhead and The Drop. The Racer is Bibi (Adèle Exarchopoulos), a young racing driver and the daughter of a wealthy construction magnate. The Jailbird is Gigi (Matthias Schoenaerts), a dashing playboy with, it seems, time and money to burn, but with secrets to keep. They fall in love, but when Bibi finds out what her man gets up to on one of his weekends away – and when one of those weekends goes disastrously wrong – their relationship is tested to the hilt.

With a script by director Michaël R Roskam together with Jacques Audiard collaborators Thomas Bidegain and Noé Debré, this is turbo-fuelled, edgy stuff. It features strong, unpredictable performances from two of the most mesmerising stars of contemporary European cinema – and a dazzlingly orchestrated central action scene.