Not for Deneuve admirers
Deneuve is in a subdued role in this film. She's also in a supporting role so the film cover is a bit misleading. The story is not as strong as others that she's chosen.

Daniel Auteuil is great as the cop who is entangled in the life of a trouble-making young woman. Extremely sexy in this role, he plays the role of a strong yet conflicted law enforcer well.

The film is a bit weak in its flow. It's not the worst film but it's also not extremely good either.

Crime doesn't pay...
...Except for director Andre Techine who achieved something I never expected of him: a suspenseful film. In "Les Voleurs" he presents this old-hat-message that "crime doesn't pay" as if it were a new insight and milks this nothing of a story for a considerable amount of thrills. What really makes this film is its excellent constructed plot. It's like a jigsaw puzzle of a famous painting: the picture is familiar, the fun is derived from putting the pieces together.

The film starts with its ending: a gangster lying in his casket, with a bullet in his head. His little son hides daddys revolver and speaks of his feelings during the funeral. Now all other persons involved in this case give their account of the occurrences that led to his death. The story is quite simple: two brothers on opposite sides of the law: Ivan (Didier Bezace), the gangster, Alex (Daniel Auteuil), the cop. Juliette (Laurence Cote) has an affair with both of them, and with Marie (Catherine Deneuve), a philosophy teacher, as well, just to complete the foursome. Juliettes brother Jimmy, another gang-member loathes the life he is leading and what has become of his sister. In a childish attempt to hurt her brother, Juliette agrees to drive a getaway car for Ivan. The heist goes wrong, Ivan is shot. But was his influence strong enough to harm the character of his little son?

Catherine Deneuve and Daniel Auteuil get top billing, but it's the young Laurence Cote who really stars in this film. Among other things she does a graphic bed-scene with Auteuil, a nude-in-the-bathtub-scene with Deneuve (don't expect too much), and, in order to keep the audience happy, she even swallows glass splinters.

Martin & Porter called Deneuves performance a "glorified cameo", and quite obviously she was just brought into this film in order of being there and attracting a larger audience. Her little monologue about money ("Philosophers liken it to excrements") will please some viewers. Daniel Auteuil is entertaining in the role of a cop who is the black sheep of his gangster-family, an interestig plot-reversal that proves that Techine, while not on the level of Chabrol gets better with each film. If you had to sit through his earlier efforts, the sluggish "La scene du crime" and the well constructed, beautifully photographed and ultimately paralysing "Ma saison preferee", "Les voleurs" comes as an agreeable surprise: a watchable film!

The best French Deconstructivist Film
Les Voleurs is an excellently acted, directed, and written film. This is Auteuil's finest acting to date. Furthermore, the film is the best example of the use of deconstructivism in film making. Les Voleurs is the reason why I believe the French are still the best film makers today. Just a warning to younger viewers. Some scenes can be disturbing.

Auteuil-Deneuve combine in fascinating cop story.
Daniel Auteuil never ceases to amaze. This versatile actor ("Jean de Florette," "Un Coeur en Hiver") is never the same character more than once, it seems, which is what acting is about, I suppose. In "Thieves" he is a tough cop who is estranged from his family, a group of dedicated organized criminals. He is the black sheep. His brother is killed in an attempted heist, and this incident is the core of the story. He has fallen in love with Juliette (Laurence Côté), whose brother is a member of the family gang, and his life is torn apart. Catherine Deneuve actually has a small part in the story, but carries it off with her usual panache. An excellent cop story, French style.