Killing Zoe is a 1993 crime film written and directed by Roger Avary and starring Eric Stoltz, Jean-Hugues Anglade and Julie Delpy. The story details a safe cracker named Zed who returns to France to aid an old friend in performing a doomed bank heist. Killing Zoe was labeled by Roger Ebert as "Generation X's first bank caper movie." In 2019, Avary directed the semi-sequel Lucky Day.

Plot

Zed, a professional safe-cracker, comes to Paris to help a childhood friend, Eric, with a bank heist. While in the taxi on his way to the hotel, the cab driver offers to procure a sex worker for him in the evening. As Zed emerges from the shower, the sex worker, Zoe, arrives. After having sex, they talk amicably and express their mutual affection. Zoe confides that she is studying art and has a "very boring" day job. They are interrupted when Eric barges in and brusquely sends Zoe out of the room. Eric takes Zed back to his residence, where Zed meets Eric's friends. Eric explains his plans: the following day is Bastille Day and virtually everything is closed except for a holding bank they plan to rob. Zed forgoes his rest time to spend the night partying with Eric and his friends at a seedy jazz club, which Eric refers to as 'the real Paris'. As they binge, Eric confides to Zed that he has HIV, which he contracted through intravenous drug use.