Thieves is a 1996 French drama film directed by André Téchiné, starring Daniel Auteuil, Catherine Deneuve and Laurence Côte. The plot follows a cynical police officer, who comes from a family of thieves, and a lonely philosophy professor, both romantically involved with a self-destructive petty criminal. With a puzzling structure, the story is told through a series of flashbacks presented from four different perspectives.

Plot

Justin, a ten-year-old boy living in a small town in the Rhône-Alpes region, is awaken in the middle of the night. His mother, Mireille is crying and his widower grandfather, Victor, tells the boy that his father, Ivan, is dead. The next day, Alex, Justin's uncle and Ivan's younger brother, arrives for the funeral accompanied by a young woman, Juliette. Justin notice the tension between the adults. He takes his father's gun and hides it. The story flashes backward and forward to explain what led up to Ivan's death.