Les Voleurs 1996

[Bartolome Beacham]

ThievesFrench: Les Voleurs) is a 1996 French drama film directed by Andr Tchin, starring Daniel Auteuil, Catherine Deneuve and Laurence Cte.[2] 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.

Justin, a boy who is living in a small town in the Rhne-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, along with a security guard. 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. At a local fair, Justin threatens Alex with a air-rifle. 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, 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.

Thieves received widespread praise from film critics. It is generally considered, with My Favorite Season and Wild Reeds, among Tchin's best films.[5] Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 82% of 11 critics have given the film a positive review, holding an average score of 7/10.[6]

On line film critic James Berardinelli called the film "strong and keenly-insightful ".[6] Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that "Tchin 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."[6]

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".[6] Janet Maslin in the New York Times reported that in the film "Tchin explores the intricate connections among these characters with a somber, penetrating wisdom that is the film's main reward."[6] Jonathan Rosenbaum from Chicago Reader called the film "a Masterpiece"[6]

The film received five nomination to the Cesar Awards, including the categories of Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress (Catherine Deneuve), Best Young Actor (Benot Magimel) and Best Young Actress (Laurence Cte). It won only in the last category. In addition, Benot Magimel received the Prix Michel Simon as Best Actor for his performance in Thieves.

The original score for the film was written by Philippe Sarde, regular composer in Tchin's films.[2] The sound track includes an eclectic mix of artist and styles like : Cheb Mami, Liza Minnelli, The Archies and Mozart.[10]

The film was released on DVD on 4 March 2011 in the United States by Sony Pictures as a DVD-R manufactured on demand. The film is in French with incorporated English subtitles. Les Voleurs is also available in Region 2 DVD.

Une nuit dans une maison en Rhne-Alpes, le petit Justin, dix ans, est rveill par des bruits en bas. On a apport le corps de son pre, Ivan, mortellement bless, il apprend la nouvelle de son grand-pre Victor, sans que la cause de sa mort ne lui soit rvle. Le lendemain, Alex, oncle de Justin et frre cadet d'Ivan, arrive aux funrailles accompagn d'une jeune femme, Juliette. Justin remarque la tension entre les grandes personnes et s'empare du pistolet de son pre qu'il cache. L'histoire conduisant la mort d'Ivan se poursuit ensuite par flash-backs.

Alex, s'est rebell contre sa famille de voleurs en devenant policier dans le secteur de La Duchre Lyon. Il a rencontr l'anne prcdente Juliette, alors qu'il devait l'interroger au commissariat pour un vol de parfums l'talage. Il avait t troubl par la personnalit sans concession de la jeune femme et l'avait laisse partir aprs la restitution des produits vols. Plus tard, il la retrouve dans une bote de nuit louche appartenant Ivan, son frre, avec lequel il a toujours eu des rapports tendus. Ivan camoufle son activit de chef d'un gang de voleurs de voitures. Il est la tte d'un rseau bien organis dont fait partie son pre et Jimmy, le frre de Juliette. Ivan frime devant Alex en lui montrant qu'il russit mieux que lui matriellement. Alex a reconnu Juliette chez Ivan, ils commencent alors une histoire d'amour plutt torture. Si Alex est trs attir sexuellement par elle, il n'est cependant pas vraiment amoureux d'elle et leur histoire est complique du fait que Juliette a aussi une liaison avec Marie, une professeure divorce qui enseigne la philosophie l'universit. Alex espionne Marie. Ivan apprend la relation de Juliette avec Alex et la menace. Ivan et sa bande (y compris Juliette) prvoient de voler des voitures qui se trouvent dans un dpt de chemin de fer.

L'affaire se passe mal, un vigile est tu et Ivan est bless mort dans l'change de coups de feu. Le groupe peut s'enfuir et le corps d'Ivan est ramen chez son pre. Juliette, qui avait t oblige de participer au vol contre l'avis de Jimmy, est anantie par la mort d'Ivan. Elle tente par deux fois de se suicider, la premire fois chez son frre et la deuxime fois chez Marie. Cette dernire fait interner Juliette dans un hpital psychiatrique pour qu'elle se rtablisse. Se sachant recherche, elle s'enfuit avec l'aide de Jimmy qui va la cacher Marseille. Aprs la crmation d'Ivan, Alex tente de se rapprocher de son neveu Justin sans beaucoup de succs.

Marie rend visite Alex qui lui rvle que Juliette tait implique dans cette histoire de vol de voitures et qu'il est sa recherche. Alex et Marie dveloppent alors une amiti pleine de retenue, tant lis par la recherche et la protection de Juliette. Plus tard, Alex se rend chez Marie et dcouvre qu'elle est enferme chez elle crire l'histoire de Juliette. Il lui dit que Juliette semble tre hors de cause car la police est plutt sur les traces d'un jeune homme. Alex reoit ensuite un colis avec le manuscrit de l'histoire de Juliette et des cassettes audio de sa voix ; ce mme courrier lui apprend aussi le suicide de Marie. Alex part retrouver Juliette Marseille pour lui donner le manuscrit de Marie, mais il n'ose pas lui parler, elle s'est fait une nouvelle vie en travaillant dans une librairie et semble avoir trouv un quilibre. Le petit Justin quant lui, a finalement compris ce qu'on lui avait cach et rapproch de Jimmy avec lequel il se sent bien.

Sauf indication contraire ou complmentaire, les informations mentionnes dans cette section proviennent du gnrique de fin de l'œuvre audiovisuelle prsente ici. Sauf indication contraire ou complmentaire, les informations mentionnes dans cette section peuvent tre confirmes par la base de donnes IMDb.

Quand les cbles de la SNCF n'y suffisent plus, il reste toujours les alambics des bouilleurs de cru: l'un d'eux vient de se faire voler tout son matriel de distillation en cuivre, probablement par des trafiquants de mtaux.

Jol Danton, qui parcourt les villages autour de Boussan (Haute-Garonne) pour distiller les pommes, les poires ou les raisins des particuliers, a eu la dsagrable surprise lundi matin de dcouvrir que ses deux alambics avaient t soigneusement dmonts dans la cabane o il les entreposait.

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