The Cheat (La Triche) – Altered Innocence (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: France, 1984
Director: Yannick Bellon
Writers: Yannick Bellon, Alain Marcel, Rémi Waterhouse
Cast: Victor Lanoux, Anny Duperey, Valérie Mairesse, Xavier Deluc, Michel Galabru, Roland Blanche, Michèle Simonnet, Patrick Raynal, Gérard Hérold, Guy Tréjan

Release Date: September 9th, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 103 Minutes 44 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono French
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $32.95

"In Bordeaux, a murder investigation tied to a queer club pulls a married police inspector into a dangerous affair with a young handsome musician who may also be a suspect. As the investigation deepens, his involvement with the suspect begins to strain his marriage and blur the boundaries between his professional and private life.” – Synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5

Here’s the information given about the transfer, “Newly restored in HD for its first major U.S. release, the film remains a striking entry in queer French cinema."

The Cheat (La Triche) comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 23 GB

Feature: 20.5 GB

The source looks excellent; it retains an organic appearance. Flesh tones and colors look correct, image clarity and black levels are strong, and there are no issues with compression.

Audio: 4.25/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in French with removable English subtitles. The track sounds clean, clear, and balanced, and ambient sounds are well represented.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a newly created trailer (1 minute 23 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French with removable English subtitles), an archival making-of documentary titled Between Identity and Emotion: Reflections on La Triche (47 minutes 1 second, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), and trailers for The Wounded Man, Wild Reeds, Taxi zum Klo, and Angst by August.

Summary:

Yannick Bellon directed The Cheat (La Triche). Her notable films are Somewhere, Someone, La femme de Jean, and L'affût.

A police commissioner investigating the death of a prominent homosexual becomes romantically involved with a young man who's the main suspect.

Although a man's murder initiates the narrative, the police procedural elements of the story become secondary after the initial setup. That said, what begins as a murder mystery evolves into a melodrama after an illicit affair that poses a threat to the police commissioner's professional and personal lives.

While the opening moments offer The Cheat’s (La Triche) most risky moment, the scene features full frontal male nudity; the sexual encounters after that are brief, or their most graphic elements are implied offscreen. At the heart of The Cheat (La Triche) is a film about self-destructive behavior and its consequences. When it comes to the police commissioner's affair with men, The Cheat (La Triche) is a biting critic of moralism.

All around, the performances are outstanding, especially Victor Lanoux (Cousin, Cousine) in the role of police commissioner Michel Verta and Xavier Deluc (He Died with His Eyes Open) in the role of a murder suspect named Bernard Mirande. Victor Lanoux delivers a remarkable portrayal of a man leading a double life: a loving family man with a wife and child and secret sexual encounters with men. What makes Michel Verta and Xavier Deluc's performances so powerful is their onscreen chemistry.

The Cheat (La Triche) is a dialogue-driven film that has a few striking moments visually. The narrative’s thrust comes from the police commissioner’s fear of his homosexual encounters being exposed, and it is in these moments that the narrative really excels at creating tension. The narrative effectively captures your attention, but it truly reaches its peak with a significant plot twist in the final 30 minutes. Ultimately, The Cheat (La Triche) is an engrossing melodrama whose tragic finale serves as a perfect coda.

The Cheat (La Triche) gets a first-rate release from Altered Innocence that comes with a strong audio/video presentation and an insightful extra. Recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer