Synopsis
In the middle of the night, someone brings Ivan's body home to his wife and his young son. Flashbacks reveal the relationships among Ivan and his brother Alex, a cop with a cleanliness fetish; siblings Juliette and Jimmy, Ivan's partners in a seedy nightclub; the love triangle of Alex, Juliette, and Marie, a professor of philosophy; and of Alex and his nephew, Ivan's dour, stoic son. Ivan's death changes every relationship.
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Cast
- Catherine DeneuveMarie Leblanc
- Daniel AuteuilAlex
- Laurence CôteJuliette Fontana
- Benoît MagimelJimmy Fontana
- Fabienne BabeMireille
- Didier BezaceYvan
- Julien RivièreJustin
- Ivan DesnyVictor
- Didier RaymondLucien
- Régis BetouleRégis
Recommendations
- 100
Chicago Reader
An exquisite, haunting movie for grown-ups about love and family ties. - 100
San Francisco Chronicle
Coming on the heels of Ma Saison Preferee, Thieves suggests that Techine is filling the void left by the deaths of Truffaut and Louis Malle, and ought to be considered his country's finest humanist filmmaker. - 88
Chicago Sun-Times
Thieves doesn't have the Hollywood kind of ending, where everything is sorted out by who gets shot. It is about the people, not their plot. It is about how the sins of the fathers are visited on the sons, and the grandsons. - 83
The A.V. Club
At two and a half hours, it's a bit too long, but it's probably the most emotionally authentic film noir since The Grifters. - 80
Variety
An abrupt change of pace from Wild Reeds, director Andre Techine's Cannes-competing Thieves (Les Voleurs) elevates a seemingly routine police drama into a Rashomon-style exploration of family and amorous ties. Handsomely and meticulously made, the film nonetheless appeals mostly to a rarefied audience. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
The cumulative effect in Thieves is quite haunting. - 75
ReelViews
Téchiné's development of Alex and Marie is masterful; Auteuil and Deneuve keep our attention riveted to the screen whenever they're on. And, while the director doesn't succeed in plumbing the emotional depths reached by Ma Saison Préferée, there are elements of Thieves that touch us nearly as forcefully -- those moments just aren't as plentiful. - 75
Boston Globe
There's a grim fatalism in Les Voleurs, with more than a few pangs of resignation and a melancholy respect for the problematic nature of life. But it's also bold and powerful and totally unpredictable as it draws its narrative strands together to conclude that the human heart can be the biggest thief of all. [17 Jan 1997, p.D5]
