The Bait (French: L'Appât) is a 1995 French film directed by Bertrand Tavernier, starring Marie Gillain, Olivier Sitruk, Bruno Putzulu and Richard Berry.
Nathalie (Gillain), a young woman, dreams of breaking through in the show business. She spends time in a restaurant where she meets older businessmen. Nathalie thinks that they could help her in her career, but the men are only interested in sleeping with her, which Nathalie never accepts. Nathalie lives in a small flat with her boyfriend Éric (Sitruk) and his friend Bruno (Putzulu). Éric dreams of launching a clothing company in the US, but he realizes that he needs a lot of money for this project. Eventually, Éric and Bruno decide to rob the businessmen who Nathalie knows to fund Éric's project.
The Bait provides examples of:
- Ambition Is Evil: Nathalie wants to break through in the show business. Éric wants to become a successful businessman in the US. They will both end up committing crimes to achieve Éric's goal.
- Based on a True Story: The film is based on a 1990 book of the same title by Morgan Sportès, which is based in turn on a real criminal case, which happened in France in 1984.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Éric and Bruno torture Antoine and Alain because they want them to tell where the money is.
- Did I Mention It's Christmas?: The events of the film happens just before Christmas time, but it has no bearing on the plot. In the end, after confessing her crimes, Nathalie asks if she will be home for Christmas.
- Erotic Eating: Nathalie licks food on Alain's fingers in his flat.
- The Film of the Book: The film is based on a 1990 book of the same title by Morgan Sportès, which is based on a real criminal case.
- Headphones Equal Isolation: When Éric and Bruno are beating Antoine, Nathalie, who is in the next room, puts her headphones on, so that she does not hear the shouts.
- I Have a Family: Alain tries this when Éric threatens him: he says that he has a son.
- Interrogated for Nothing: Éric and Bruno torture Antoine and Alain because they want them to tell where they hide large sums of cash in their flat. The victims answer that there is no large sum of cash and the torturers assume that they lie. It turns out that they were telling the truth.
- Malevolent Masked Men: Éric and Bruno wear three-hole balaclavas when they attack Antoine.
- Ms. Fanservice: Nathalie (Marie Gillain) appears several times topless, for example when she comes back to her flat and Éric and Bruno are watching Scarface.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Antoine is beaten to death by Bruno.
- Publicly Discussing the Secret: Éric, Bruno and Nathalie frequently discuss their extortion plan in bars. They do not seem to care if someone catch wind of their criminal project.
- Reckless Gun Usage: Éric's gun goes off accidentally in the street after the murder of Alain. There is no consequence, but it shows how inexperienced and how reckless he is.
- Roman à Clef: The film retells the events of a real criminal case, which happened in France in 1984, but the names of the people involved have been changed.
- Setting Update: The real-life criminal case happened in 1984. The movie is firmly set in the 1990's.
- Shout-Out: Many movies are referenced.
- Nathalie meets a businessman who knows the producer of Les Visiteurs.
- When Nathalie comes back to her flat, Éric and Bruno are watching Scarface.
- There are posters of Die Hard and Cry-Baby in the flat of the three friends.
- In the video club, the three friends rent Under Siege and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare.
- When the three friends talk about their project in a bar, Nathalie has the videotapes of The Bodyguard and Total Recall.
- When Bruno tries new alligator shoes on, he asks if they were made with the shark of Jaws.
- Alain shows Nathalie Tandem on a big screen in his flat. There are also posters of Universal Soldier, Taking The Heat (a 1993 TV movie) and The Philadelphia Experiment II in his flat.
- Stupid Crooks: None of the three protagonists is really bright. Their plan fails. Generally, Éric and Bruno do not even get into the flat of the intended victim. They only manage to go in twice. Both times, there is no large sum of cash in the flat. The three criminals are arrested soon after their second attack.
- Take That!: In the video club, when Nathalie suggests suggests renting a French movie, Éric tells her that it probably sucks because it is French.
- The Tease: Nathalie teases many older businessmen, but she never has sex with them. At first, this is because she thinks that they could help her for her career in the show business. In the end, this is to allow Éric and Bruno to rob them.
- Two Guys and a Girl: The main characters are Éric, who is The Leader of the group; Bruno, his closest friend and accomplice, who is his Foil (Éric is a lady's man, whereas Bruno is shy and reserved); and Nathalie, Éric's girlfriend.
- The Vamp: Nathalie uses her charms to seduce older businessmen, then her accomplices rob and kill them.
- Would Hit a Girl: Éric kicks Nathalie when he is angry because she forgot to open the door security restrictor of Alain's flat.
