Voleur de désirs

This movie was bitterly panned upon its release, and I see a number of IMDB's reviewers agree with the original critics. I don't get it, except that this movie does such a good idea of taking you inside Stephen Bauer's character and what he is doing is so creepy that people react viscerally to him instead of the movie. The movie is engrossing, brilliantly photographed and well-paced. The camera angles and the chemistry between Bauer and Williams are reminiscent of what Hitchcock tried to do in Vertigo, but much less forced and contrived. All these characters behave in character. I really consider this one of the best romantic thrillers of all time. Yes, it is erotic. Why is that a bad thing? 10/10.

Sexy, sensuous and seductive, thats the only way i can sum up this movie. A young interior designer is fed up up with her life, married to a man thats more interested in his computer than satisfying her needs, decides to spend most of her time writing in her diarys, but when these are stolen by a house thief, she starts to notice a dashing hunk is paying a little to much attention to her than normal, the thief has stolen her diaries and is living out her sexual fantasies, without her knowing who he is, if this reminds you of one of those really overly sexy channel 5 movies then your right but its fantastic to watch, and is not one bit tacky, and you will love the 80s sound track.

Though I do like this film, I found the concept immensely disturbing. Being a private person (you don't see my NAME on this, do you?), I found the idea that anyone could so completely invade a life absolutely terrifying. In spite of a few holes, the film works, chiefly because the characters enmesh the audience in their feelings. Steven Bauer is incredibly underrated as an actor and, while I have seen stronger performances from him, he's very good as the enamoured thief in search of a way out and Barbara Williams is credible as the neglected wife enchanted by the mystery man. Let's not leave out John Getz, another unexplainably underrated performer, as the self-absorbed husband. If you can ignore the flashy 80s style, the film is a fascinating study of obsession. Warning: it definitely deserves its R rating for unnecessary full nudity.

I first saw Thief of Hearts on cable while I was babysitting in high school...maybe 16 years old. As a Catholic school girl, I was obsessed with all things sexual, so I was an instant fan of the movie. I saw it several more times while it was still a popular cable choice, then lost track of it. However, I never forgot it: the sexual tension, the premise...not even the title! As an adult, I talked my fiancé into renting it, issuing the standard disclaimer: "I loved this in high school, but I was into Wham!, Duran Duran and Prince, too, so proceed with caution," etc. To my surprise, it was almost as good as I remembered it having been, and the sexual situations weren't nearly as contrived as I feared they might be. Some of the acting was a little wooden, but the premise is brilliant...I'm still trying to turn that around in my head...and, for some reason, I still don't keep a diary!

I saw this film after visiting San Francisco and the movie captures it's vitality completely. For me Frisco is the best city on earth and I was captured from the start. OK so the plot was unique at the time, but I thought the characters were well cast and believable. Barbara Williams stole it with her beauty, innocence and naivety. For me the passionate love scenes backed up with the Harold Faltermeyer soundtrack was top drawer. I waited 5 weeks for the soundtrack (Germany) and it was well worth the wait. I still play it today.For all these reasons I still tell people this is my favourite film so far.