Summary
1950, in a small French town 16-year old Janine lives with her aunt and uncle after having
been abandoned by her mother. Bored with her dull life, she steals luxury items
such as silk scarves before getting caught. She then gets a poorly paid job as a
maid for a wealthy family and soon after starts to have an affair with a married man.
All the time she longs for something better...
Review
This film was developed from a storyline written by François Truffaut in 1983 (shortly
after having completed his last film Vivement Dimanche!). It was taken up
by Claude Miller, who worked as Truffaut’s assistant director on a number of his films.
Whether consciously intended or not, François Truffaut’s presence is strangely
felt in this film and the film closely resembles his own work in many ways.
Miller has established himself as a fine director in his own right and La Petite voleuse
is a respectable piece of French cinema. It boasts some enchanting photography
and an engaging performance from a young Charlotte Gainsbourg, who plays the traumatised
teenager Janine to perfection. The film’s strength is its attention to character development
- you get to know and care about everyone who appears in this film, even some of the minor
characters.
The only unpardonable sin that the film commits is the gratuitous insertion of Pathé
newsreel extracts. Obviously this was intended to give a feel for the times in which
the film was set, but all it seems to do is make an unwelcome brash intrusion into an
otherwise compelling film.
© James Travers 2000
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