Max and the Junkmen

Max (Michel Piccoli) is a police inspector who has decided to stop waiting for crimes to happen and start arranging one himself. He goes undercover to set up a group of robbers, with Lily (Romy Schneider) and Abel Maresco (Bernard Fresson) in the circle he moves through. Claude Sautet films it in a grainy, restrained style, and the nightlife gets no more color than the job requires.