Swindled

Ernesto grew up in an orphanage and started out with small thefts. When his partner is caught he is left alone, and an ageing swindler takes him on and teaches him the trade. Years pass, the jobs get bigger, and the best man in the business, Federico, joins them. Then a woman out of Federico's past turns up with a proposal for a large score. Miguel Bardem's Spanish film tells the confidence trick as a profession: patience, observation, and the use of the victim's own greed. Federico Luppi plays Federico and Victoria Abril the woman. The telling draws the audience into the game as well; who is fooling whom stays open until the end. The plot is built on flashbacks.