TALES OF brothers on opposite sides of the law are as old as the story of Cain and Abel. The inherent complexity of such fraternal conflicts continues to be a magnet for film-makers.

There was a recent variation on the theme in Pride and Glory, in which one police officer suspects another, his brother-in-law, of corruption. Coming next year is Jim Sheridan's remake of the Danish drama Brothers, in which the bad sibling reforms when his brother goes missing and is presumed dead.

Rivalsis based on an autobiographical book by brothers Michel and Bruno Papet, although writer-director Jacques Maillot has taken significant dramatic licence in his adaptation.

The film opens in Lyon in 1979, when Gabriel (François Cluzet) is released after serving a 10-year sentence for murder. He is resentful that his younger brother François (Guillaume Canet), a dedicated detective, did not visit him in prison, but François offers Gabriel accommodation and help finding a job at a supermarket.

Gabriel's earnings are meagre for a man accustomed to the proceeds of crime, but there is a ray of hope when he falls for a supermarket colleague (Marie Denarneau). Both brothers have been through failed marriages, and there are further complications when François becomes involved with the wife of a violent criminal he sent to prison.

The chemistry between Canet and Cluzet firmly establishes the fraternal bond between their characters, and the strains on that relationship when Gabriel, a habitual re-offender, is drawn back into the crime. The period detail is authentic in costumes, hairstyles and the movie's retro score that recalls US thrillers of the 1970s.

The passage of time is not as clearly delineated as it ought to be, and the movie can be pointlessly confusing as Maillot tries to compress too much material within its breathlessly paced unfolding. It's not surprising that he originally conceived the eventful saga as a TV miniseries, which would have permitted vital extra time for the development of the narrative and its multiple characters.

The presence of Canet and Cluzet inevitably evokes their recent collaboration on a superior thriller, Tell No One, which Canet also directed. A TV news report in the background of one scene in Rivals refers to the killing of notorious criminal Jacques Mesrine, prompting comparisons with the more accomplished Public Enemy Number One, which stars Vincent Cassel as Mesrine and opens here next year.

Directed by Jacques Maillot. Starring Guillaume Canet, François Cluzet, Marie Denarneau 15A cert, Light House, Dublin, 107 min ***