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Love story between a crime gang member (Matthias Schoenaerts) and a younger upper-class girl (Adèle Exarchopoulos) who happens to be a racing driver.

It's essentially a drama with a little action, with the enjoyment largely depending on how much you care about its leads, who have made name for themselves in mostly French (language) movies.

"Le Fidèle" essentially echoes the "Romeo and Juliet" story where the two star-crossed people are divided by background but try to overcome their differences in the name of love.

The story is too shallow and straightforward to make a lasting impression but the charm of its stars just might - although the girl can become a bit annoying with her tendency to hold her mouth open like she was a young. early 2000's Angelina Jolie.

The international English title highlights one of them being a racedriver - the girl, in fact. Estonian title, "Võidusõitja ja võllaroog", is a direct translation from that, with a nice old-fashined choice of words to make it stand out a bit more.

But the original title meaning "loyal" or "faithful" is much better because:

(a) it closely follows the plot and tone, whereas the new titles makes one think of old French action comedies starring Jean-Paul Belmondo or something,

and (b) driving is actually a minor and essentially unimportant part of the experience. There's not even a standout car chase which would make sense in a story about criminal and a race driver

Actually, there's not much to say about the whole thing, especially if one tries to avoid spoilers. The general tone is dark, the stars are handsome and good enough actors to make the most of the material.

They have enough chemistry between them to generate some suspense but not enough to make the movie truly worthwhile.

"Le Fidèle" was Belgium's bet to bag a best foreign language movie Oscar this year but didn't make it among the five finalists to get nominated.

Well ... It's a very well made film, with a great cast, lead and supporting; it does have a few less than believable aspects to the plot I must say. But the first part is sort of the car racing + heist film you were promised.

Anyway, yeah, the first part is fine - plenty of chemistry between Gigi and Bibi, lots of action, it looks like it's going somewhere ... and then where it goes is rather dark. And then from there, it turns utterly bleak. Forlorn, sad, depressing; you name it. I felt like there was a dark cloud hanging over me afterwards, and I'm surprised my dreams that night weren't darker than they were. I generally like noir, but this was a bit much for me. Some people have a higher tolerance for that sort of thing than I do though. C'est la vie.

This movie completely lacks cohesion and I'm in agreement with a couple of other reviewers here who have said it's a shambles. Roskam worked magic with the marvellous Matthias Schoenaerts (who tried his damndest to make this work) in Bullhead and The Drop, but frankly this just failed. It sprawled itself over three "acts", the first of which was quite exciting and showed promise but that's where it stopped. The two hours plus running time felt like five.

Taking risks makes some feel alive. Both Bibi and Gigi, a racecar driver and sophisticated thief, are the type. True to nature, they fall for each other on first sight and quickly dispense with the formalities. "Do not bring flowers," says Bibi. Not that she needed to warn him. Bibi and Gigi share a danger addiction. Distance feeds their adrenaline, and attraction. "Do not lie to me," warns Bibi, yet she cannot get enough of it. What attracts is also what tears apart. The poor one among them who fails to keep pace with the other, or who runs too far away! Please, I thought at the start, do not let Bibi rescue Gigi in a car at any point during the film. The more the premise of the film and the nature of the characters is revealed, the less one needs to worry about this. The Bibi/Gigi chemistry is palpable. The best part of the film is the tension between the main characters, waiting to see who is going to crack first. Matthias Schoenaerts (Gigi) is reunited with the director of Bullhead. Bullhead is darkly amazing, and it is where Schoenaerts achieved well deserved notoriety, but the duo did not repeat the magic here. More depth is needed to the plot, supporting characters, sound and cinematography. Seen at the Miami Film Festival.

Racer and the Jailbird is an absolutely infuriating film. It started off quite well, it's nicely shot and looks good, has good sound design, and the beginnings of a quite compelling plot. What's more the leads are brilliant, Adèle Exarchopoulos especially so (even when her character's arc begins to devolve). But of course, it doesn't last. Towards the end of the first chapter what had the potential to be quite an interesting plot point about Gigi's relationship with Bibi and robbery (maybe the cartoonish names should have been a warning) turns into just another "one last job"and things start steadily deteriorating. But the film still holds the potential to just be a simple fun melodrama, or maybe even to subvert cliche. But no, in what must have been a misguided attempt to do the latter, the film devolves into a gritty overwrought mess. It really is quite terrible.