Released 1996
Stars Catherine Deneuve, Daniel Auteuil, Laurence Côte, Fabienne Babe, Didier Bezace
Directed by André Téchiné

Auteuil plays Alex, a French cop with a chip on his shoulder and a penchant for keeping his emotions under lock and key. Auteuil, who does this kind of role so well, is perfectly cast, and never for the briefest of moments does his portrayal ring false. Deneuve, the ageless star who is returning opposite Auteuil, is superlative as Marie, the fragile philosophy professor who falls in love often and easily.

The event that jump-starts Thieves is the murder of Alex's criminal brother, Ivan, who was the head of a car-stealing ring. Juliette is somehow mixed up in the ring, but the situation is complicated because she's sleeping with Alex, who has been trying to gather enough evidence to put his brother behind bars. Marie, Juliette's other lover, becomes involved in the investigation when Juliette disappears and Alex approaches her to see whether she has been in touch with the young woman. Through a series of flashbacks presented from four different perspectives (Marie's, Juliette's, Alex's, and that of Alex's adolescent nephew, Justin), Téchiné develops both plot and characters.

Summary by James Berardinelli

There are various narrators, of which the most intriguing is the little boy who starts the film. At one point, he finds and hides a revolver, and we confidently expect that it will be used before the end of the film. But what happens is more unexpected, and scarier.

"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. The more you think about the little twist at the end, the more you understand what the whole movie was about. Techine 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.

Summary by Roger Ebert