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The Little Thief

The Little Thief

Romance · Drama · Crime · 1988

In a small town in post-WWII France, 16-year-old Janine tries to improve her conditions by any means necessary. Three people—Michel, a married lover; Raoul, a fellow thief; Mauricette, a photographer she meets in prison—will help her learn from her mistakes.

Movie details

The Little Thief

1988 Romance · Drama · Crime 1h 50m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.8 / 10

2.6K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

71 %

Tomatometer

TMDB

6.3 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

In a small town in post-WWII France, 16-year-old Janine tries to improve her conditions by any means necessary. Three people—Michel, a married lover; Raoul, a fellow thief; Mauricette, a photographer she meets in prison—will help her learn from her mistakes.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Little Thief?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Claude Miller

Written by

Claude Miller · Annie Miller · Luc Béraud · Claude de Givray

Charlotte Gainsbourg

Charlotte Gainsbourg

Janine Castang

Didier Bezace

Didier Bezace

Michel Davenne

Simon de La Brosse

Simon de La Brosse

Raoul

Clotilde de Bayser

Clotilde de Bayser

Séverine Longuet

Raoul Billerey

Raoul Billerey

L'oncle André Rouleau

Chantal Banlier

Chantal Banlier

La tante Léa Rouleau

N

Nathalie Cardone

Mauricette

Court is in session

Put The Little Thief on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.