Le Voleur (aka The Thief Of Paris) (1967)

After his uncle (Christian Lude) spends his inheritance, a young man (Jean Paul Belmondo) steals some jewels out of retaliation. He finds he gets a thrill and embarks on a life as a professional thief. I don't know why but with its elegant turn of the century setting, I was expecting this Louis Malle film to be a romp along the lines of VIVA MARIA. Far from it, the film is a painstaking look at the life of a professional their, there are stretches without dialogue as we watch Belmondo and his comrades applying their skills. The film also shows us the underbelly of a "secret" society of thieves, who help each other and form deep bonds with each other, honor among thieves as it were. While I appreciate the effort, it eventually becomes soporific (though that might have been the flu). With Genevieve Bujold looking like a Dresden doll in her 19th century costumes, Charles Denner, Marlene Jobert, Francoise Fabian, Julien Guiomar and Bernadette Lafont.