The Thief of Paris
{{Redirect|Le Voleur|the French literary magazine|Le Voleur (magazine)}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Thief of Paris
| image = ThiefOfParisPoster.jpg
| caption = American poster for The Thief of Paris
| director = Louis Malle
| producer = Georges Laurent
J.F. Malle
Alain Quefféléan
| writer = Jean-Claude Carrière
Louis Malle
| starring = Jean-Paul Belmondo
Geneviève Bujold
| music = Henri Lanoë
| cinematography = Henri Lanoë
| editing = Jacques Saulnier
| studio = Nouvelles Éditions de Films
Les Productions Artistes Associés
Compagnia Cinematografica Champion
| distributor = Les Artistes Associés
| released = {{film date|df=y|1967|02|22|}}
| runtime = 121 minutes
| country = France
| language = French
| gross = $9.2 million{{cite web|url=http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=9135|title=Le Voleur (1967)- JPBox-Office|last=JP|website=www.jpbox-office.com}}
1,225,555 admissions (France)[http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.com.au&sl=fr&u=http://www.boxofficestory.com/box-office-jean-paul-belmondo-c22691425/28&usg=ALkJrhjA1BAwa61xbH78_AwMX1S2RUWR4w Box office information for film] at Box office story
}}
The Thief of Paris (Le voleur) is a 1967 French crime film directed by Louis Malle and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo as a professional thief (Georges Randal) at the turn of the century in Paris. The film is based on a book of the same title by Georges Darien.
The story centers on his burglaries as well as his ongoing relationship with his cousin Charlotte (Geneviève Bujold). It also features other well-known French actors including Marie Dubois, Charles Denner and Bernadette Lafont. The film had 1,225,555 admissions in France.{{cite web|url=http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=9135&affich=france|title=Le Voleur (1967)- JPBox-Office|last=JP|website=www.jpbox-office.com}} It was entered into the 5th Moscow International Film Festival.
Plot
In the opening scene, Georges Randal, the thief of the title, breaks into a big house and begins to steal the valuable objects on display. A series of flashbacks (with occasional reversions to the present) then narrates the story of Randal's life. An orphan, he is raised by his uncle along with his cousin Charlotte, who grows into an attractive young woman with whom he falls in love. When Georges reaches twenty-one and asks for the money his parents left him, he finds that his unscrupulous uncle has stolen it all. He is rejected as a suitor for Charlotte because he is poor. She is then betrothed by her social-climbing father to a dim-witted aristocrat. Georges steals the fiance's family jewels and from then on, motivated by a sense of justice and desire for revenge, follows a successful career as a gentleman thief, targeting the haute bourgeoisie. At the end of the film, he has achieved all his aims: he is married to Charlotte, is living in his uncle's house, and has recovered the money his parents left him, as well as having accumulated a fortune through his crimes. Charlotte says to him, 'You don't need to steal anymore', but he replies, 'You don't understand!'. He has a compulsion to go on, knowing that he will eventually be caught. The final scene shows him boarding the train back to Paris with the haul from his latest robbery.
Cast
- Jean-Paul Belmondo as Georges Randal
- Geneviève Bujold as Charlotte Randal
- Christian Lude as Urbain Randal, uncle of Georges and father of Charlotte
- Marie Dubois as Geneviève Delpiels
- Julien Guiomar as L'abbé Félix la Margelle
- Paul Le Person as Roger Voisin called Roger-La-Honte
- Marlène Jobert as Broussaille, sister of Roger-La-Honte
- Françoise Fabian as Ida
- Bernadette Lafont as Marguerite
- Martine Sarcey as Renée Mouratet
- Jacques Debary as Courbassol
- Charles Denner as Cannonier
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Malle on Malle, edited by Philip French, Faber and Faber, 1993.
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0062457|title=The Thief of Paris}}
- [http://www.lefilmguide.com/review/le-voleur-1967.html The Thief of Paris] at Le Film Guide
- {{Rotten-tomatoes|the-thief-of-paris-le-voleur}}
{{Louis Malle}}
{{Jean-Claude Carrière}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thief Of Paris, The}}
Category:1960s French-language films
Category:Films directed by Louis Malle
Category:French crime comedy films
Category:Films set in the 1900s