The Story of a Cheat

The plot follows the life of an unnamed protagonist who suffers a terrible tragedy in his childhood that sets him along a path in life in which he believes he who cheats avoids getting cheated.

Guitry also stars as the adult version of our "hero" a one-time bellboy in a posh hotel who eventually becomes a croupier in Monte Carlo before dabbling in thievery and cheating in casinos under a variety of disguises.

Things get off to a unique start as Guitry introduces the rest of the cast and the crew, not with written credits, but by showing them at work behind- the-scenes or hanging around the sets, with Guitry's voice identifying them. The most unusual thing about this movie is its narrative style. The story is told by the elder version of the protagonist writing his memoirs at an outdoor cafe, and the action occasionally stops for short vignettes at the cafe that interrupt his writing. But for the vast majority of the film, there is little to no spoken dialogue from the characters, but rather everything is narrated in voice-over by Guitry. What seems like a possible annoyance is actually quite charming, no doubt aided by Guitry's pleasant voice.

The action moves quickly, and the camerawork is vibrant. Many notable directors have named Guitry as one of their favorites and as an inspiration to their own works, including Orson Welles, Robert Bresson, and Francois Truffaut. I would even add the more recent Wes Anderson, whose work is obviously, if perhaps indirectly, influenced by Guitry's style. This is one of the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Recommended.

Sacha Guitry was the greatest orator in movie history. Even greater than Orson Welles, in my estimation. But that does not make him the greatest filmmaker. He had real trouble in SHOWING the audience what was going on, rather than telling them. I think Story of a Cheat is the most successful of his films because he found a way of creating action--an example being the jewel thief who comes up with a novel way of stealing gems from unwitting marks. The two scenes with Marguerite Moreno in the cafe are wonderfully done, with great dialog. Otherwise the story is told through narrated flashbacks.

Cahiers du Cinema classed this as one of '100 most important films' which is high praise indeed. It is years ahead of its time and has aged like a good wine. It is the first film to use a voice-over narration and Sacha Guitry has introduced his actors and technicians on camera thereby dispensing with traditional credits. This respect for and appreciation of the talents at his disposal is evident in his subsequent films. Guitry has adapted this from his own novel and within its eighty minute length is inventive, absorbing and entertaining enough to be rightly considered one of his best films. Marguerite Moreno is great as the Countess, there is the glorious voice of chanteuse Frehel and a brief appearance by Roger Duchesne as an anarchist. He went off the radar after the War amid 'allegations' of collaboration but resurfaced in 'Bob le Flambeur'. The art direction by Henri Menessier is superlative. Guitry was essentially a man of the theatre and his films have been described as 'anti-cinematic'. There is some truth in this and the staginess, verbosity and over indulgence of his later films are inclined to test ones patience but there are also moments of genius. He was an artiste whose devotion to his craft cannot be overestimated.

I can only approve of my old pal Writer's Reign 's opinion ,who for a change wrote the very first comment."Le Roman d'un Tricheur" is an unique work ,which tends to make a reductio ab absurdum : what 's the point of being honest if honest people are chastised.

So much for the prelims: a young boy was born a very big family :12 persons in all;as he had stolen some money,he was punished and deprived of mushrooms! But they were poisonous mushrooms and the whole family but the naughty brat went to their grave .So what's the point of being honest? The whole story is told by a voice over;the form was totally new since the actors did not act ,they just mimed ,like some kind of tableaux vivants.The only scenes (two) where you find a real dialog are the ones between the hero (Guitry ,of course) and Marguerite Moreno's countess.

This is a short film (barely 80 min) but Guitry 's story is dense and includes an attempt against the life of Russian tsar Nicolas the Second , a lesson of geography about Monaco , a trip to the casinos (royale or not)where the hero tries his luck with mixed results , WW1,a sneak thief -whose methods would make Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie admire the lady-,and more ...

Guitry was often criticized in France ;they said he had an unbearable ego .Completely true:that's what made his movies so exciting.

As others have mentioned here, the films of Sacha Guitry seem to have sunk into oblivion in the English speaking world, which is odd since at their best they share much of the same quality and charm as those of Ernst Lubitsch or Max Ophuls, both of whom are still spoken of with deserved reverence.

This one might be the most well known of his films, for what that's worth, and is a similar story to Lubitsch's wildly overpraised but markedly inferior 'Heaven Can Wait' - the memoirs of an old rogue's misspent youth. It's a boon that Guitry, working outside of Hollywood censorship, could be much more frank about what his rogue actually got up to - the great weakness of Lubitsch's later film.

Much of this film is in fact silent, with Guitry's witty narration being the only speech. There is an excellent performance by Serge Grave as the young Cheat. The best scene is the one where the old Guitry runs into the now elderly Countess whose younger charms he has just been fondly reminiscing over. His discomfort is hilarious.

This is not my favourite of Guitry's films - that would still be La Poison - but it's a patchy and a whimsical delight nonetheless. And really, I'm just glad to have discovered all of them.