Cinematic criminal couples tend to be of the shiny-teethed Hollywood variety - Faye Dunaway and Warren Beattie in Bonnie And Clyde or Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis in Thelma & Louise.

Audiard's enthralling film noir makes a virtue out of the fact that his pair of dodgy customers are not - on the face of it - a particularly attractive proposition.

Carla (Devos) is a frumpy, partially deaf secretary, permanently harassed and constantly resentful of the patronising way she's dealt with by her (male) superiors. Paul (Cassel) is the thuggish thief, fresh out of jail, who she takes on as an assistant... at first struggling with the photocopier and then a lot more.

Theirs is not a natural chemistry - he makes it clear he's only doing the job to keep his parole officer sweet and she is wary of his mercenary regard for her. However, they show the potential for a lucrative future when they join forces to expose an obnoxious manager as corrupt (after Paul's broken into his car).

Things move up a gear when Paul is forced to quit his office job and work unpaid at a nightclub to wipe out a £7,000 debt he ran up before being jailed. It is while he's grafting behind the bar that he notices his slimy boss, Marchand (Gourmet), is up to no good with a couple of hoodlums he remembers from the slammer.

Further investigation reveals that Paul could profit from this... but he needs Carla's unique skills to finish the job.

What makes this particularly compelling is the unorthodox relationship between Carla and Paul, whose hesitant, mutual attraction grows stronger as the stakes get higher.

Shot in an unglamorously grainy Parisian suburb, the odd couple bicker and fight but eventually find the common ground that will help them get what they want.

It's a gripping, totally unstylised ride and the vicious chain of events as the climax draws up will have you looking at secretaries in a new light.

Tim Evans