The Little Thief

A student at Paris’ IDHEC film school from 1962 through 1963, Miller had his first practical cinematic experience while he was in uniform, serving with Le Service Cinema de L’Armee. From 1965 until 1974, Miller worked in assistant and supervisory capacities for many of France’s major New Wave directors, including Robert Bresson and Jean-Luc Godard. His principal mentor was François Truffaut, under whose tutelage Miller directed a trio of shorts and his first theatrical feature, 1976’s La Meilleure façon de marcher (The Best Way to Walk), a coming-of-age drama which bore traces of Truffaut’s Les Mistons (1957) and The 400 Blows (1959). Miller received César nominations for best director and writing for this film. Subsequent Miller-directed films can also be perceived as homages to Truffaut, many even using the same production personnel. The following year he made Dites-lui que je l’aime, for which he received a second César nomination for Best Director. He won a César Award for Best Writing in 1981 for Garde à vue, and the Louis Delluc Prize in 1985 for L’Effrontée, for which he received another César nomination for Best Director. In 1983 he directed Mortelle randonnée. When Truffaut died in 1984 during the preparation of another confused adolescent feature, Le Petite Voleuse (The Little Thief), Miller took over the project, completing the film in 1988. On French television, Miller directed dozens of commercials and the six-part miniseries Traits de Memoire (1976). After a four-year absence, Claude Miller returned to active filmmaking with The Accompanist (1992), The Smile (1994) and La Classe de Neige, for which he won the Jury Prize at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. In 2001 he directed Betty Fisher et autres histoires, and in 2003 La Petite Lili. In 2007 he directed “A Secret”.—wikipedia