« « Les voleurs » : better « j » than « m ». (9/10) | HomePage | Huillet-Straub : five star nerd. (1/8) »
Jun 22, 2009
« Les voleurs » : rob me if you can. (10/10)
Who are « Les voleurs », the thieves, the title refers to ? What do they steal ? Is Marie a thief, too ? Which character is not guilty of robbery ?
On the surface of things, Victor, Ivan, Jimmy are thieves : they steal cars ; Juliette too is one : she steals perfumes.
Ivan is a further thief, as he cheats Mireille, his wife, and probably robs her of all marital affection. Does he similarly rob his son, Justin ?
Justin does not tell us, but is robbed forever of his father. Nominally, the robber is the night guard who pulled the trigger ; at heart, he is Victor, Justin’s own grand father, the gang true leader, who set his son on his way to death.
Victor also robbed Mireille of a husband, however inadequate, his two sons of a chance at a different life, Alex of the love of a father and a home. What about Victor’s wife ? She is never mentioned.
Alex and Juliette share sex : there is no robbery, each gives it freely, but may be with a view to stealing something else : information about his brother’s gang for Alex, about police moves for Juliette ; beyond that, if not affection, a break from loneliness for Alex, a life buoy against self-destruction for Juliette.
Alex and Marie initially look like ageing vampires who re-energise themselves with Juliette’s young blood, but she will prove the survivor, robbing them of the little life they still had and escaping to a new existence.
Marie thought she was the robber, as she recorded Juliette’s conversations about her life and planned to make them into a book : these recordings are Juliette’s missing voice over and we shall never hear it, as her robbery condemned Marie to her death before she could exploit her loot.
The recordings and their transcription by Marie were transferred to Alex : what will he do with them ? throw them away ? keep them to himself ? listen to them ? fall victim to them, like Marie ?
« Les voleurs » has a « prologue », also an « épilogue ». Justin’s voice opens the film and returns to close it.
Justin has been robbed of a father, a childhood, maybe more, unless, instead, he has been set free to make his own choices. His first one is to pick Jimmy over Alex, as a friend rather than as a surrogate father, because he is young.
Justin and Jimmy ride Jimmy’s motorcycle, Justin’s arms are wrapped around Jimmy’s waist. Both smile. Is it a « the beginning of beautiful friendship » or a new robbery in the making ? Into which kind of thief Justin will grow ?
08:05 Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this