Thieves

Please, don't get misunderstood by the title: Thieves. OK, it is question of thieves, and also of a cop, but strangely despite those "ingredients", the way this movie is "cooked", it is not a crime drama. But a drama and characters study, yes, definitely. The making is very accurate, made with the greatest care, with a very complex story telling. Which supposed a very complicated editing game. It is not a crime film with gunfights, car chases; very unique indeed in the movie history. There are films with cops without being crime films, for instance GARDE A VUE or POLICE, but with cops and robbers without being a crime film.... Not my stuff, but still a good film.

This film has a complex, multi-layered structure that grabs your interest...but not much substance underneath. There's no real mystery to the plot, and no real revelations about "human nature" either. Well-acted all around - including a little boy who is wise way beyond his years. (**)

The film, Shakespeare's shades. At the heart of the film is love. Everything else, just around this love.

And when Auteuil says: You just do not want to fight.

Heroine Catherine Deneuve fights: I fall asleep with her and wake up with her.

What can say more?

It's a wonderful movie in the movie.

Suicide. And how is it possible to live,

The image Heroine (Deneuve) - two in one, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet buried in the apartment.

Perhaps the subtitles failed to do justice to the movie, but the visual construction of Les Voleurs crosses all boundaries. The complexities of the plot can be confusing; however, the visual imagery used in the film helps reinforce the characteristics of each relationship the film studies. All in all, a brilliant film to watch if you feel up to reading the subtitles.

This is a fine effort by Andre Techine describing a messy triangle between a philosophy professor (Deneuve), a grim, harried detective (Auteuil) and the teenaged girl they are both in love with (Laurence Cote). The girl has joined the crime family that the cop has escaped from--Alex's brother has just been killed by police in a shoot-out while trying to steal luxury cars, and Alex must move very carefully when he returns home for the funeral. All these matters are handled very adeptly by the director, whose early works I confess to finding dull and lifeless exercises in style (Barocco!).

I can't say enough about Deneuve's performance; she has left the glamour behind in her 50's and just gives us one fine role after another. Marie makes it clear she has a special affection for Juliette: "I don't love women, I love Juliette." Her tolerance for Alex's clumsy attentions after Juliette's disappearance is beautifully done. Auteuil's attraction is more problematic; you can sense that there hasn't been much affection in his life and allowing Juliette to get close to him endangers his efforts to remain a loner. Finally, praise to Laurence Cote for her bravura blend of elegance and punk-rock; a wonderful new star.