Les Voleurs

After the back-to-back success d'estime of MA SAISON PREFERE and WILD REEDS, French art-house hotshot Andre Techine brings his awesome powers of visual eloquence and concision to a ho-hum noir tale, which is further hobbled by gloriously French cliches. It's crafted like a crystal, unfolding in a series of overlapping chapters and alternating CITIZEN KANE-like viewpoints, packed with poetic asides and shot and edited with surgical grace: It's only when you stop to catch your breath that you realize how fundamentally thin the whole business is. The performances are superb, as well: It's just too bad Daniel Auteuil is stuck playing the hackneyed taciturn cop; ...