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''Thieves'' (french: Les Voleurs) is a 1996 French drama film directed by
André Téchiné André Téchiné (; born 13 March 1943) is a French screenwriter and film director. He has a long and distinguished career that places him among the most accomplished post- New Wave French film directors. Téchiné belongs to a second generation ...
, starring Daniel Auteuil, Catherine Deneuve and Laurence Côte.Marshall, ''André Téchiné'', p. 157 The plot follows a cynical police officer, who comes from a family of thieves, and a lonely philosophy professor, both romantically involved with a self-destructive petty criminal. With a puzzling structure, the story is told through a series of flashbacks presented from four different perspectives.


Plot

Justin, a boy who is living in a small town in the Rhône-Alpes region, is awaken in the middle of the night. His mother, Mireille is crying and his widower grandfather, Victor, tells the boy that his father, Ivan, is dead. The next day, Alex, Justin's uncle and Ivan's little brother, arrives for the funeral accompanied by a woman, Juliette. Justin notice the tension between people. He takes his father's gun and hides it. The story flashes backward and forward to explain what led up to Ivan's death. Alex, who has rebelled against his family by becoming a cop, works in the deprived La Duchere district of Lyon. He begins with his encounter, a year before Ivan's death, when he first meets Juliette, who is brought to his office when she was arrested for shoplifting. He lets her off. He sees her again one day when he visits the sleazy nightclub run by his big brother, Ivan. Ivan is a crime boss and runs a popular club with a drag revue, funding his business through a stolen-auto ring headed up by Jimmy, who is Juliette's brother. The encounter between the siblings on opposite sides of the law is tense, they barely get along. Ivan is happy to show Alex that he is doing much better than him on the wrong side of the law. After their second encounter Alex and Juliette start a tortured affair beginning to meet regularly for sex. He is not in love with her, and their relationship is complicated by the girl's emotional and sexual involvement with Marie, a professor of philosophy. Alex spies on Marie. Ivan hears about Juliette's relationship with Alex and threatens her. Ivan and his gang, including Juliette, plan the theft of cars in a railway deposit. The heist at the railway marshaling yard goes disastrously wrong when Ivan is shot dead. Juliette, who had been coerced into participating, against Jimmy's wishes, is distraught by Ivan's death. Emotional imbalance and self-destructive, Juliette tries to commit suicide twice, first while staying with her brother and later while visiting Marie, after Ivan's death. Marie has her interned in a psychiatric hospital to recuperate. Alex asks Marie for the address of Juliette's clinic, but she has disappeared. In search of Juliette, Marie visits her housing estate apartment. After Ivan's cremation, Alex makes an effort to connect with his nephew without much success. On a local fair, Justin threatens Alex with a gun. Justin learns the truth about his father's death from his grandfather Victor. Marie visits Alex, who tells her Juliette was involved in the heist and that he is trying to find her. Alex and Marie develop an uneasy friendship as they bid, from a distance, to protect Juliette. Later Alex visits Marie and finds she has become a recluse, writing a book about Juliette. He tells her Juliette is safe because the police are looking for a boy. Later Alex hears that Marie has committed suicide as he receives her manuscript and the tapes of Juliette's voice in the post. Alex goes to see Juliette in
Marseilles Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
, but leaves her alone when he sees she is well from a distance. She has built a new life for herself and works in a bookshop. Justin has taken after his father and grandfather and does not like his uncle. By contrast, Justin gets along very well with Jimmy. Jimmy decides to marry Ivan's widow, Mireille.


Cast

* Daniel Auteuil as Alex * Catherine Deneuve as Marie Leblanc * Laurence Côte as Juliette Fontana * Benoît Magimel as Jimmy Fontana * Didier Bezace as Ivan * Julien Rivière as Justin *
Ivan Desny Ivan Desny (born Ivan Nikolaevich Desnitskij; 28 December 1922 – 13 April 2002) was a Chinese-born actor of Russian descent. Early life Desny was born in Peking, China. Career Desny was a film actor. Bilingual in French and German, he acted ...
as Victor * Fabienne Babe as Mireille * Régis Betoule as Régis * Pierre Perez as Fred * Naguime Bendidi as Nabil


Reception

The film premiered in May 1996 at the 49th Cannes Film Festival. It was released in France on 21 August 1996 and in the United States on 25 December that same year. ''Thieves'' received widespread praise from film critics. It is generally considered, with '' My Favorite Season'' and '' Wild Reeds'', among Téchiné's best films.Marshall, ''André Téchiné'', p. 1 Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 82% of 11 critics have given the film a positive review, holding an average score of 7/10. On line film critic
James Berardinelli James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...
called the film "strong and keenly-insightful ".
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
from the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that "Téchiné involves us in a subtle, gradual process of discovery; each piece changes the relationship of the others. He is so wise about these criminals, he makes the bad guys in most American films look like cartoon characters." In USA Today Mike Clark commented that in ''Thieves'' “Deneuve gives one of her best performances ever, though she's not exactly the movie's focus. Of the many pleasures here, one is trying to guess just who the dramatic focal point is". Janet Maslin in the New York Times reported that in the film "Téchiné explores the intricate connections among these characters with a somber, penetrating wisdom that is the film's main reward." Jonathan Rosenbaum from
Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...
called the film "a Masterpiece" The film received five nomination to the
Cesar Awards Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Places * Cesar, Portugal * Ces ...
, including the categories of Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress (Catherine Deneuve), Best Young Actor (Benoît Magimel) and Best Young Actress (Laurence Côte). It won only in the last category. In addition, Benoît Magimel received the Prix Michel Simon as Best Actor for his performance in ''Thieves''.


Production

''Thieves'' was directed by André Téchiné in the style of
film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
. Its fragmented structure has been compared to a William Faulkner's novel, particularly to '' The Sound and the Fury'' (1929).Marshall, ''André Téchiné'', p. 52 The narrative — consisting of a prologue, five sections, and an epilogue — leaps around in time and switches between the viewpoints of Justin, Alex, Marie, and Juliette. ''The Sound and the Fury'' unfolds over four days, likewise, switching narrative perspectives. Both ''The Sound and the Fury'' and ''Thieves'' also have a central female character who is loved obsessively by two of the narrators: Faulkner's novel has Caddie, who is loved by her brothers Benjy and Quentin, and Téchiné's film has Juliette, who is the love interest of both Alex and Marie.Marshall, ''André Téchiné'', p. 53 The divided time structure emphasize the interlapping relationships between the characters.Marshall, ''André Téchiné'', p. 54


Music

The original score for the film was written by Alain Sarde, regular composer in Téchiné's films. The sound track includes an eclectic mix of artist and styles like : Cheb Mami,
Liza Minnelli Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and choreographer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli is among a rare group of performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy ...
, The Archies and
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
.Marshall, ''André Téchiné'', p. 149 * ''Douha Alia''
Cheb Mami Mohamed Khelifati ( ar, محمد خليفاتي, ), better known by his stage name Cheb Mami ( ar, شاب مامي, link=no, , born 11 July 1966), is an Algerian musician and singer-songwriter. He sings and speaks in Algerian Arabic and sometim ...
* ''Baadini'' Rachid Taha * ''Sous le soleil de Bodega'' Les Négresses Vertes * ''Sugar Sugar'' The Archies * ''The Magic Flute'' Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart * ''Tonite'' Les Rita Mitsouko * ''La Valse Petite''
La Tordue La Tordue (French for "The Twisted") was a popular musical group from Paris, France that existed from 1989 to 2003. History Formation and early performances French writer and artist Benoît Morel was working as a designer at publishing house Édi ...


Home media

The film was released on DVD on 4 March 2011 in the United States by
Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...
as a
DVD-R DVD recordable and DVD rewritable are optical disc recording technologies. Both terms describe DVD optical discs that can be written to by a DVD recorder, whereas only 'rewritable' discs are able to erase and rewrite data. Data is written ('burne ...
manufactured on demand. The film is in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
with incorporated English subtitles. ''Les Voleurs '' is also available in Region 2 DVD.


References


Further reading

* Marshall, Bill. ''André Téchiné'', Manchester University Press, 2007,


External links

* * * {{André Téchiné 1996 drama films 1996 films 1990s French-language films Films directed by André Téchiné Films scored by Philippe Sarde French crime films French drama films French LGBT-related films Lesbian-related films Films set in Lyon 1990s French films