Racer and the Jailbird (French: Le Fidèle) is a 2017 drama film directed by Michaël R. Roskam, starring Matthias Schoenaerts and Adèle Exarchopoulos.

A gangster and a racing car driver fall in love, set against the background of a brutal crime gang in Brussels.

[8] It was selected as the Belgian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated as a finalist.

Introduced to Bibi after a motor racing event, Gigi pretends he works importing and exporting cars, and asks her out on a date.

As their relationship continues, comments from his friends about their wild youth and his time in juvenile detention raise her suspicions.

In a private moment Bibi asks him to reveal his greatest secret, and Gigi jokingly admits he robs banks.

Gigi and his friends successfully rob a banker they met at party held by Bibi's racing group.

The gang drop a shipping container off a road bridge, to trap a money transport van and police escort.

[14] On 12 September 2015, Adèle Exarchopoulos joined the cast, and the film was described as a "noirish romance thriller set against the backdrop of crime gangs in Brussels", and shooting was scheduled to start in 2016.

[1] Wild Bunch handled international sales, while Pathé will distributed the film in France on 1 November 2017.

[20] Owen Gleiberman of Variety writes that the success of a dramatic love story hinges on there being interesting obstacles to overcome.

Gleiberman says that Gigi's lack of honesty and vulnerability threatening their relationship is a good obstacle but that the obstacle of Gigi's inevitable incarceration "seems to choke off the film's dramatic possibilities" and "the whole thing becomes drenched in a kind of downbeat sentimental martyrdom that feels oppressively old-fashioned and moribund.