A nice little movie about Janine, a young girl, a compulsive thief, in post-war France, trying to put some kind of life together. Kicked out of her village for theft she goes to the big city where she takes employment as a maid and begins an affair with a married man. On meeting Raoul, a fellow thief, she embarks on a secondary love affair that ultimately leads to incarceration in reform school. Compelling performances by Charlotte Gainsbourg as Janine and the talented, sadly missed Simon de la Brosse as Raoul. This was Truffaut's last sortie into writing before his death and the charm is totally evident. A sentimental journey through a troubled young woman's life, this is a wonderfully detailed story that lingers.
9 Reviews
The Jane of Hearts
richard_sleboe22 April 2008
She steals from the church to go to the movies. Janine, you've got to like her. But her own life is unlike the song-and-dance pictures she likes so much. It's more like a ballad, set to music in a minor key. As Bob Dylan famously put it: "She'd come away from a broken home, had lots of strange affairs, with men in every walk of life which took her everywhere." While Janine may have the genes of a flirt and a crook, it's the men she meets that take her from petty theft to grand larceny. She finds out the hard way there are limits even for a pretty girl and ends up in a nunnery that is half poorhouse, half prison. By showing us what she does, rather than narrating what happens to her, Claude Miller brings to life a story (written by none other than François Truffaut himself) that may easily have turned out corny at a lesser man's hands. The 1950s rural and Parisian sets are designed with just the right mixture of dedication and détente to make you forget it's only make-belief. The whole thing feels entirely natural and deeply touching at the same time. The biggest credit, of course, is due to the amazing Charlotte Gainsbourg and her arresting performance in the part of Janine. She resists the temptation of playing her as a teenage martyr and makes her a cheeky Cinderella instead.
I am a bit envious of her
liyangti3 May 2005
Warning: Spoilers
The young little thief always follow her desires.. Movies, adult clothes, losing virginity, man. It's so sexy when she change her common shoes for students into high heels..
We pity her cos her family background and her mum left her, we hate her cos she stole things with no shame and I am envious of her cos she is so true and honest, she do whatever she wants. On the opposite of most hypocritical people, she is the most free bird.
Actually, she is such an adorable and innocent girl with low and shy voice. It's easy to find employer, sugar daddy, boy friend and real good friend. But she still chose the way to hell. Why? I guess it's more easy to choose the old and bad habit which you were addicted to.
Life is wise, when it brings temptation, it also brings test.
We pity her cos her family background and her mum left her, we hate her cos she stole things with no shame and I am envious of her cos she is so true and honest, she do whatever she wants. On the opposite of most hypocritical people, she is the most free bird.
Actually, she is such an adorable and innocent girl with low and shy voice. It's easy to find employer, sugar daddy, boy friend and real good friend. But she still chose the way to hell. Why? I guess it's more easy to choose the old and bad habit which you were addicted to.
Life is wise, when it brings temptation, it also brings test.
based on a Truffaut's script, a success in Miller's work
dbdumonteil7 August 2004
Originally, "the little thief" is a movie that François Truffaut was to shot. Indeed, he was dreaming of a feminized version of his movie "les 400 coups" (1959). Unfortunately, he died before he could make his film. So, it was Claude Miller who took over and put in pictures a story with recurrent topics in Truffaut's work such as childhood, education. The whole may not reach the peak of "les 400 coups" but it is after all a decent work although opinion is a little divided about it. I think the movie is especially worth for Charlotte Gainsbourg, full of freshness. Her amazing performance is enough to justify the trip and the vision of the film. She epitomizes with a lot of conviction the role of this teenager searching for real love and a better life. More simply, she nearly carries the whole movie on her shoulders. But, don't neglect the other obvious qualities that Miller's movie contains: the quality of the screenplay, the subtlety of the making and a quite faithful reconstruction of the France after the Second World War.
A light and nice movie. Truffaut would probably have approved the result.
A light and nice movie. Truffaut would probably have approved the result.
secondhand Truffaut
mjneu591 December 2010
It's a good thing this belated tribute to Francois Truffaut was adapted from an original story by the late director himself; otherwise the film might be mistaken for a plagiarism. The story itself is a distaff companion piece to 'The 400 Blows', following a compulsive teenage kleptomaniac in post-War France, whose sticky fingers and rebellious disposition land her in and out of jail, and in and out of love. Charlotte Gainsbourg is certainly appealing in the title role, but Claude Miller's direction is perfunctory, at best; he places each scene in the correct order but has little feeling for the material, other than an obvious respect for its author, whose name alone is enough to lend the film some token credibility. Enough incidental pleasures survive the awkward adaptation to make it a worthwhile diversion for any dedicated Francophile, and a must-see for die-hard Truffaut fans, but the film suffers from an ending that might lead viewers to suspect Miller was working from an incomplete outline.
Truffaut after Truffaut
dromasca21 December 2021
We can look at 'La petite voleuse' (1988) in several ways. First of all, the film contains a few landmarks worth being studied in film schools: the last screenplay written by François Truffaut before his death in 1984, entrusted when the director realized that he would no longer have the strength and time to make the film to his friend Claude Berri, who produced the film but commissioned Claude Miller to direct it. Truffaut, Berri, Miller left us together with almost their entire generation, but very present is Charlotte Gainsbourg, who at the age of 17 played in 'La petite voleuse' her first great role. Then this is a film about an almost lost generation, that of the French whose childhood, adolescence and life were diverted from the natural trajectories by war. Finally, it is a film that looks back with lucidity and a little anger from 1988, the year of its realization, to 1950, the year in which the story takes place.
'La petite voleuse' opens with three scenes that seem to belong to a Truffaut movie or are a reverence for the beloved master and friend. A case of stealing takes place in a high school class. The heroine of the film, Janine (Charlotte Gainsbourg), is immediately identified by the camera as the main suspect. We then see her changing her student uniform into the clothes of a grown-up woman. An anthological frame, also present on the movie poster, shows her putting on high-heeled shoes. Going out in the city, her first stop is in front of a cinema hall. She looks at the languid photos of an American star. The quote from 'Les 400 coups' is obvious. Janine, by the way, is Antoine's female alter-ego, the hero of the film that launched Truffaut''s career. They should both have been the heroes of 'Les 400 coups'. To simplify the plot, Truffaut had taken her out of the story, later writing a separate script about her, a film whose filming was delayed her until his passing away. His friends and disciples took over the script and turned 'La petite voleusee' from a generational film into a combination of the genre of the female coming to age movies (I was wondering what would the film have looked like if it was directed by Agnes Varda?) and from time to time of a gangsters road movie like 'Bonnie and Clyde'. Here, too, is the closure of a cycle, for the filmmakers of the legendary American film had also been influenced by the films of the New French Wave. Many of the key scenes take place in the movie theater, which for Truffaut was the center of the universe.
Charlotte Gainsbourg is incredibly young but also incredibly Charlotte Gainsbourg, as we know her growing and evolving artistically in the over 30 years since the film was made. Janine is a rebellious and disoriented girl, looking to make her place among the adults and longing for love, fighting with the world around her through thefts but also with her imagination. A character hard to forget for those who see the movie. Charlotte Gainsbourg is surrounded by a team of good and well-distributed actors, who are all eclipsed by her performance. The reconstruction of the atmosphere of France in the first decade after the war is accurate and credible, excellently marked by the sequences of filmed news reels that put the actions and feelings of the heroes in the context of the time. The only thing we could blame the filmmakers for is the repetition of some ideas in different scenes, which leaves a feeling of rhetorical insistence. Berri and Miller practically gave up their own initiatives and relied on the talent of Charlotte Gainsbourg and the development of ideas from François Truffaut's script. In a way, 'La petite voleuse' can be considered Truffaut's last film.
'La petite voleuse' opens with three scenes that seem to belong to a Truffaut movie or are a reverence for the beloved master and friend. A case of stealing takes place in a high school class. The heroine of the film, Janine (Charlotte Gainsbourg), is immediately identified by the camera as the main suspect. We then see her changing her student uniform into the clothes of a grown-up woman. An anthological frame, also present on the movie poster, shows her putting on high-heeled shoes. Going out in the city, her first stop is in front of a cinema hall. She looks at the languid photos of an American star. The quote from 'Les 400 coups' is obvious. Janine, by the way, is Antoine's female alter-ego, the hero of the film that launched Truffaut''s career. They should both have been the heroes of 'Les 400 coups'. To simplify the plot, Truffaut had taken her out of the story, later writing a separate script about her, a film whose filming was delayed her until his passing away. His friends and disciples took over the script and turned 'La petite voleusee' from a generational film into a combination of the genre of the female coming to age movies (I was wondering what would the film have looked like if it was directed by Agnes Varda?) and from time to time of a gangsters road movie like 'Bonnie and Clyde'. Here, too, is the closure of a cycle, for the filmmakers of the legendary American film had also been influenced by the films of the New French Wave. Many of the key scenes take place in the movie theater, which for Truffaut was the center of the universe.
Charlotte Gainsbourg is incredibly young but also incredibly Charlotte Gainsbourg, as we know her growing and evolving artistically in the over 30 years since the film was made. Janine is a rebellious and disoriented girl, looking to make her place among the adults and longing for love, fighting with the world around her through thefts but also with her imagination. A character hard to forget for those who see the movie. Charlotte Gainsbourg is surrounded by a team of good and well-distributed actors, who are all eclipsed by her performance. The reconstruction of the atmosphere of France in the first decade after the war is accurate and credible, excellently marked by the sequences of filmed news reels that put the actions and feelings of the heroes in the context of the time. The only thing we could blame the filmmakers for is the repetition of some ideas in different scenes, which leaves a feeling of rhetorical insistence. Berri and Miller practically gave up their own initiatives and relied on the talent of Charlotte Gainsbourg and the development of ideas from François Truffaut's script. In a way, 'La petite voleuse' can be considered Truffaut's last film.
Captivating look at French teen life
Ron-188 November 1998
Same old same old - French male fantasy
Mikelito21 April 2008
Truffaut originally wanted to do this movie, but died. He seems to have left behind notes. What might they have contained, I wonder: "Alright, there's this young chick, and she's all horny and a juvenile delinquent and she just does what she wants. And we'll have lots of excuses for boobs and lingerie." Hat's off to the genius.
This starts out pretty entertaining. A look into a girls life in France in the late 40s.
But lo and behold, who would have guessed it: after 20 minutes it turns into the number 1 passion of French men: a Lolita fantasy.
Yes, an insecure grown man who is very supposedly married hooks up with a teenage girl... In fact as we all know from decades of French movies this is yet another French man's wet dream brought to the screen. So was Truffaut no different? Too bad.
The girl in this movie seduces the man and that makes it credible, plausible and "proof" that this is not Pedophilia. Well at least we believe it, won't we?
Unfortunately it is just that: Pedophilia. There are lots of gratuitous scenes of the girl wearing lingerie etc. Of course those scenes had to be there. Otherwise we couldn't possibly have followed this deep and meaningful story... Because you know she just happens to be a kleptomaniac and she just happens to love lingerie. So she has to try on what she steals doesn't she? She could have stolen tractors or food but who wants to see her eating a baguette on a tractor, right? Right.
Later on they check into 2 separate hotel rooms as father and daughter. But grandma concierge knows everything ... she doesn't really approve but hey, this is France, he's 40 and she's 16, no problem!
I guess everything is fine - Charlotte Gainsbourg was SEVENteen at the time. Quite old actually to be in a French movie about defloration.
If you are not convinced by the noble intentions now, there are women's prison scenes and cat fights in the movie as well.
So you see, this is really just an innocent and totally non-sexist totally non-speculative totally non-exploitative look into a young girls life.
This starts out pretty entertaining. A look into a girls life in France in the late 40s.
But lo and behold, who would have guessed it: after 20 minutes it turns into the number 1 passion of French men: a Lolita fantasy.
Yes, an insecure grown man who is very supposedly married hooks up with a teenage girl... In fact as we all know from decades of French movies this is yet another French man's wet dream brought to the screen. So was Truffaut no different? Too bad.
The girl in this movie seduces the man and that makes it credible, plausible and "proof" that this is not Pedophilia. Well at least we believe it, won't we?
Unfortunately it is just that: Pedophilia. There are lots of gratuitous scenes of the girl wearing lingerie etc. Of course those scenes had to be there. Otherwise we couldn't possibly have followed this deep and meaningful story... Because you know she just happens to be a kleptomaniac and she just happens to love lingerie. So she has to try on what she steals doesn't she? She could have stolen tractors or food but who wants to see her eating a baguette on a tractor, right? Right.
Later on they check into 2 separate hotel rooms as father and daughter. But grandma concierge knows everything ... she doesn't really approve but hey, this is France, he's 40 and she's 16, no problem!
I guess everything is fine - Charlotte Gainsbourg was SEVENteen at the time. Quite old actually to be in a French movie about defloration.
If you are not convinced by the noble intentions now, there are women's prison scenes and cat fights in the movie as well.
So you see, this is really just an innocent and totally non-sexist totally non-speculative totally non-exploitative look into a young girls life.
La Petite Nympheuse.
fedor820 October 2008
Warning: Spoilers
As usual, when commenting on a (typical) European movie, I am not going to sheepishly quote pseudo-poets like Bob Dylan or talk pretentiously about the "recurring alienation theme". (If you're a Marxist, hence obsessed with alienation, then you'll pretty much see it everywhere - even in a Bugs Bunny cartoon.) I prefer to say it like it is. If you're a loveur of la cinema Francophonique and everything Truffautesque, you might want to skip this text.
LPV is yet another typical French male fantasy with distinct Lolita overtones. No other nation in the world makes so little effort in hiding this passion on the big screen. Quite to the contrary, they love this stuff and will probably never tire of making movies in which young female nymphomaniacs throw themselves at middle-aged men. (Doesn't that remind you of the plot of every other porn film?) To be fair, one cannot speak of pedophilia here because a fully-developed 17 year-old Gainsbourg plays a 16 year-old (which might disappoint some Lolita-movie purists posing as connoisseurs of filmic art). However, we do have a young - and in certain ways very naive - virgin here seeking sex. That's tacky enough as it is.
As I mentioned, it's not the middle-aged man who hunts down the nubile - it's the other way round. This premise has less realism to it than the story of Dumbo the Flying Elephant. And guess what? As in any fantasy, the middle-aged man at first REJECTS the girl's sexual advances - on moral grounds. Ah, these movie men have such impenetrable moral fiber! Or almost: eventually he succumbs to her charms, and does it with her, after which the director is only too happy to satisfy the male segment of the film's audience by showing Gainsbourg's breasts in full view. (Not that I'm complaining about nudity, but then don't pretend it's "arte".)
Not that he himself deflowers her. Young and crazy Gainsbourg was far too impatient for this middle-aged man to finally come around, so she did it first with a ginger handyman she'd just met. All in all, she has sex with three different men (not all middle-aged buffoons, to Truffaut's credit). The total sum would have been four, but the Catholic priest rejected her offer early on in the movie. (Hmm, I do wonder why...)
LPV, in spite of its faults, is fairly watchable, somewhat entertaining; the plot moves at a brisk pace with plenty of things happening - even if half of them lack credibility or are plain moronic. However, while it does have a beginning, LPV has no middle or end. It just trots along like the first installment of a 6-part TV mini-series bio. The "ending" constitutes of a pitiful, brief epilogue which serves as a poor substitute for a real conclusion. (Or was Truffaut aiming for a Lolitaesque "Star Wars"-type saga that covers different epochs of the life of a young harlot? We'll never know...) The epilogue informs us that she (predictably) changed her mind about having an abortion, and that her doctor said that the infant's over-activity in the womb indicates it might turn out to be a hyperactive little moron - just like its mother! Touching. And so informative.
The other problem with the movie is that it's not easy to either identify with or sympathize - hence to be too interested - in the trials, tribulations and mishaps of a mostly unlikable, lying, thieving, promiscuous, treacherous, borderline-retarded little slag. Perhaps you have to be a film student to laugh at a bomb being thrown at a bunch of cows...
I don't see what's supposed to be so damn "cute" about theft. This is not some silly heist comedy in which immoral behaviour can be laughed at and dismissed as a mere movie gimmick. However, it isn't surprising: European movies, and particularly French ones, have often been mysteriously devoid of morality, with decadence lurking around every corner. (Ah, those Socialists and their hedonism... such role-models for the youth...) Another example of this is when Gainsbourg's female boss congratulates her for hooking up with a married man: "A married man, huh? Bravo!" she says, and this is a PREGNANT woman we're talking about here. Typically, her reaction wasn't meant to be either funny or full of hypocrisy. Another reminder where this movie was made...
From whom did Gainsbourg learn to break into locked houses? Was the director trying to present us with your average juvenile delinquent or was he giving us a glimpse into the life of a master criminal in-the-making? Silly.
Yes, Truffaut must be a genius for writing a Lolita script about a dumb, horny girl. She must be utterly alienated from society, and I'd quote some Bob Dylan poetry right now if only I cared to remember any of that charlatan's lyrics...
LPV is yet another typical French male fantasy with distinct Lolita overtones. No other nation in the world makes so little effort in hiding this passion on the big screen. Quite to the contrary, they love this stuff and will probably never tire of making movies in which young female nymphomaniacs throw themselves at middle-aged men. (Doesn't that remind you of the plot of every other porn film?) To be fair, one cannot speak of pedophilia here because a fully-developed 17 year-old Gainsbourg plays a 16 year-old (which might disappoint some Lolita-movie purists posing as connoisseurs of filmic art). However, we do have a young - and in certain ways very naive - virgin here seeking sex. That's tacky enough as it is.
As I mentioned, it's not the middle-aged man who hunts down the nubile - it's the other way round. This premise has less realism to it than the story of Dumbo the Flying Elephant. And guess what? As in any fantasy, the middle-aged man at first REJECTS the girl's sexual advances - on moral grounds. Ah, these movie men have such impenetrable moral fiber! Or almost: eventually he succumbs to her charms, and does it with her, after which the director is only too happy to satisfy the male segment of the film's audience by showing Gainsbourg's breasts in full view. (Not that I'm complaining about nudity, but then don't pretend it's "arte".)
Not that he himself deflowers her. Young and crazy Gainsbourg was far too impatient for this middle-aged man to finally come around, so she did it first with a ginger handyman she'd just met. All in all, she has sex with three different men (not all middle-aged buffoons, to Truffaut's credit). The total sum would have been four, but the Catholic priest rejected her offer early on in the movie. (Hmm, I do wonder why...)
LPV, in spite of its faults, is fairly watchable, somewhat entertaining; the plot moves at a brisk pace with plenty of things happening - even if half of them lack credibility or are plain moronic. However, while it does have a beginning, LPV has no middle or end. It just trots along like the first installment of a 6-part TV mini-series bio. The "ending" constitutes of a pitiful, brief epilogue which serves as a poor substitute for a real conclusion. (Or was Truffaut aiming for a Lolitaesque "Star Wars"-type saga that covers different epochs of the life of a young harlot? We'll never know...) The epilogue informs us that she (predictably) changed her mind about having an abortion, and that her doctor said that the infant's over-activity in the womb indicates it might turn out to be a hyperactive little moron - just like its mother! Touching. And so informative.
The other problem with the movie is that it's not easy to either identify with or sympathize - hence to be too interested - in the trials, tribulations and mishaps of a mostly unlikable, lying, thieving, promiscuous, treacherous, borderline-retarded little slag. Perhaps you have to be a film student to laugh at a bomb being thrown at a bunch of cows...
I don't see what's supposed to be so damn "cute" about theft. This is not some silly heist comedy in which immoral behaviour can be laughed at and dismissed as a mere movie gimmick. However, it isn't surprising: European movies, and particularly French ones, have often been mysteriously devoid of morality, with decadence lurking around every corner. (Ah, those Socialists and their hedonism... such role-models for the youth...) Another example of this is when Gainsbourg's female boss congratulates her for hooking up with a married man: "A married man, huh? Bravo!" she says, and this is a PREGNANT woman we're talking about here. Typically, her reaction wasn't meant to be either funny or full of hypocrisy. Another reminder where this movie was made...
From whom did Gainsbourg learn to break into locked houses? Was the director trying to present us with your average juvenile delinquent or was he giving us a glimpse into the life of a master criminal in-the-making? Silly.
Yes, Truffaut must be a genius for writing a Lolita script about a dumb, horny girl. She must be utterly alienated from society, and I'd quote some Bob Dylan poetry right now if only I cared to remember any of that charlatan's lyrics...
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
