La Petite Voleuse [The Little Thief] *** (1988, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Raoul Billerey, Chantal Banlier, Simon de La Brosse) – Classic Movie Review 11,769

Charlotte Gainsbourg stars as a troubled tomboyish teenager who craves attention and drifts into petty crime.

Director Claude Miller’s French 1988 film La Petite Voleuse [The Little Thief] stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, Raoul Billerey, Chantal Banlier, Didier Bezace, Simon de La Brosse and Clotilde de Bayser. It reunites Miller with his young star Gainsbourg of his previous film, An Impudent Girl [L’Effrontée] (1985).

A troubled, gauche, plain, tomboyish teenager, Janine (Gainsbourg), forced to live with her aunt (Chantal Banlier) and uncle (Raoul Billerey), craves attention and drifts into petty crime in post-World War Two provincial France after meeting a crook (Simon de La Brosse).

There is a fine sense of authenticity here and plenty of plot and development of interesting characters, but Miller’s uncharacteristically lazy-seeming direction prevents this becoming the entrancing poetic coming-of-age fable it was obviously intended to be. Gainsbourg, on the other hand, is a real bonus, filling her role with a stylish mix of puppy-fat awkwardness and stirring sexuality.

The Little Thief is based on an unfinished film script by the late François Truffaut, whose 1959 debut film Les Quatre Cents Coups tells a similar story, and made in homage to the director, who died before he could film it. Truffaut was Miller’s principal mentor and many of Miller’s films can also be seen as homages to Truffaut, often using the same production staff.

The cast are Charlotte Gainsbourg as Janine Castang, Didier Bezace as Michel Davenne, Simon de La Brosse as Raoul, Clotilde de Bayser as Severine Longuet, Raoul Billerey as uncle André Rouleau, Chantal Banlier as aunt Léa, Nathalie Cardone as Mauricette, Renée Faure as Mère Busato, Chantal Neuwirth as The farmer, Catherine Arditi as School director, Dominique Besnehard, and Jacky Nercessian.

Claude Miller (20 February 1942 – 4 April 2012). His first feature is the admired The Best Way to Walk.

The films of Claude Miller: The Best Way to Walk (1976), This Sweet Sickness (1977), Garde à Vue (1981), Deadly Run (1983), An Impudent Girl (1985), The Little Thief (1988), The Accompanist (1992), Le Sourire (1994), Class Trip (1998), Of Woman and Magic (2000), Alias Betty (2001), Little Lili (2003), A Secret (2007), Marching Band (2009), I’m Glad My Mother Is Alive (2009), See How They Dance (2010), and Thérèse Desqueyroux (2012).

François Truffaut (6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984).

Simon de La Brosse (9 October 1965 – 17 April 1998) debuted as Sylvain in Éric Rohmer’s Pauline at the Beach in 1983. He committed suicide in 1998.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,769

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