THIEVES OF THE NIGHT (Voleurs de la nuit, Les) (Thieves After Dark) (director/writer: Samuel Fuller; screenwriter: Olivier Beer from his novel Le Chant des Enfants Morts; cinematographer: Philippe Rousselot; editor: Catherine Kelber; cast: Véronique Jannot (Isabelle), Bobby Di Cicco (François), Andréas Voutsinas (Jose), Claude Chabrol (Tartuffe), Victor Lanoux (Inspector Farbet), Rachel Salik (Mussolini), Samuel Fuller (Zoltan), Jacques Maury (Desterne), Camille de Casabianca (Corinne Desterne), Stéphane Audran (Isabelle's Mother); Runtime: 98; Parafrance; 1984-France)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A below-average "Bonnie and Clyde" tale, about lovers on-the-run after a murder in Paris. A young couple is pursued for a murder they never did. This B-film, directed by Samuel Fuller, is one that failed to work. The setup seemed so wooden, while the bourgeois villains seemed more like cartoon figures than real people. Even the hero and the heroine failed to be convincing and looked more like imitations picked off the reels of other such B-films.
François (Di Cicco) is an unemployed violinist. Isabelle (Jannot) is looking for work as an art historian. They are both at the unemployment agency-ANPE-and feel humiliated looking for work and not being offered jobs they feel are respectable. He's offered a job as a dishwasher by Mr. Crepin (Chabrol), someone he mocks by calling him Tartuffe. Isabelle sees Ms. Morelle (Salik), one she calls Mussolini, and is offered a job in a porno theater. The counselors have no regard for their unemployed clients and treat them like dirt. Tartuffe hits on his female applicants, while Mussolini combs her mustache instead of listening to her applicants.
Isabelle can't take it anymore and throws a chair through Mussolini's window, as the gentle François rescues her from being caught in the ensuing chaos. They flee together, have some coffee, and become lovers. Not able to get jobs or make it as street musicians, they decide to become thieves. They will rob the three counselors they despise -- Mussolini, Mr. Desterne, and Tartuffe -- and humiliate them in the same way they have been by them.
When they rob Tartuffe, he accidentally falls off the ledge of a building while being a voyeur. But Isabelle thinks she killed him by fright. The cops are also after them, led by Inspector Farbet (Lanoux). Their mentor, Jose (Voutsinas), an ex-con now running a junk shop and reconstructing old musical instruments, helps them get a fence (Fuller) for their stolen goods. He will later help the lovers escape the police.
Warning: spoiler to follow in next paragraph.
The lovers flee to the border, get recognized, and Isabelle is unnecessarily killed by a custom police officer. François responds by killing two officers, and is arrested after giving a violin concert. The police now know the couple was innocent of murder, as a witness came forward verifying the death as accidental.
This one should only be appreciated by Sam Fuller fans.
REVIEWED ON 8/7/2001 GRADE: C-
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ
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