Le petit voleur (1999)

Director:

Erick Zonca

Writers:

Virginie Wagon (writer)
Erick Zonca (writer)

Release Date:

5 January 2000 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A young man from the countryside of Marseille comes to the city, hoping to find a job. But circumstances will drive him to become a robber. |

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Nicolas Duvauchelle	...	Esse
Yann Trégouët	...	Barruet
Jean-Jérôme Esposito	...	Oeil
Martial Bezot	...	Chacal
Jean-Armand Dalomba	...	Mathias
Jo Prestia	...	Tony
Ingrid Preynat	...	Leila
Véronique Balme	...	Tina
Olivier Gerby	...	Vampire
Emilie Lafarge	...	Sandra
Dominique Abellard	...	Chef boulanger
Gilbert Landreau	...	Employé boulangerie

Also Known As:

The Little Thief (Europe: English title)

Runtime:

100 min | Argentina:70 min | Japan:63 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Argentina:16 | France:-12 | Peru:18 | Spain:18

Company:

Agat Films & Cie

the system is a thief

`Stories of childhood have often been tempered with the melancholic yearning of lost innocence (as in Louis Malle's Au Revoir Les Enfants) or the profound weight of human misery (as in Robert Bresson's Mouchette).' -- An opinion in a filme web --

This filme has a twin called `Alone'about a young girl trying to survive.In LE PETIT VOLEUR the protagonist is a boy in a similar circumstance.Here we follow Esse (Nicolas Duvauchelle)after losing his job he tells his girlfriend, Sandrine, he doesn't intend to be anyone's slave.but after he made love to her,Esse steals her money, then he decided to move to another city only to begin a career as a rough boy who belongs to nobody. He is now apprentice in a Marseille gang that specializes in burglary, prostitution . We see Esse in a boxing gym pretending to be a fighter,there's a humorous scene where Esse is at the bathroom doing boxer' movements' with his fists, knocking everything he has in front of him, suddenly he accidentally knocked his eyes to the door,as a fighter, he is that bad. The most interesting scene of the filme is when Esse has to lookout to an ailing elderly woman who turns out to be the mother of his boss and we witness his desperate bad action.-who got to do with this old woman ( also disturbing as' his punishment.'). -I won't tell no more-. Erick Zonca after the success of La Vie Rêvée des anges,returns with intensity to tell a story about youth desperation in a gray environment.some compared his filmes with the great ROBERT BRESSON,I think that is a right remark Little thief and La vie. has similar endings both protagonists return to a work place why?maybe to Esse is because life on the streets was to tough for him and this work place seem a `safe' one BUT that doesn't mean they are `saved'. Zonca likes to show the misfits, trying to adapt themselves in a tricky system . Nicolas as Esse is a natural actor, he looks like LEO DI CAPRIO but at times reminded me to Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud),that confused young boy of Francois Truffaut masterpiece ' The 400 Blows', that is the biggest compliment I can say.

8/10