Claude Miller

Claude Miller was born on 20 February 1942 in Paris to a Jewish family, an upbringing that subtly informed the moral complexity of his later films. After completing his secondary education, he enrolled at the prestigious IDHEC film school in Paris, attending from 1962 to 1963, but his formal training was interrupted when he was called to serve with the Service Cinéma de l'Armée, giving him his first practical experience behind the camera. Upon returning to civilian life, Miller spent the late 1960s and early 1970s working as an assistant and supervisor for French cinema legends such as Robert Bresson and Jean‑Luc Godard, experiences that honed his craft and broadened his artistic perspective. His most influential mentor, however, was François Truffaut, under whose guidance Miller directed a series of short films that culminated in his debut feature La meilleure façon de marcher (The Best Way to Walk, 1976), a nuanced coming‑of‑age drama that echoed Truffaut’s Les Mistons and The 400 Blows while establishing Miller’s own voice. The film earned him César nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay, signaling his arrival on the French cinematic stage. Throughout the 1980s Miller continued to explore themes of adolescence, identity, and societal pressure, delivering works such as Dites‑lui que je l’aime (1977) and the award‑winning Garde à vue (1981), for which he claimed the César for Best Screenplay, Dialogue or Adaptation. In 1988 he completed Truffaut’s unfinished project La Petite Voleuse (The Little Thief), achieving international acclaim and cementing his reputation as a leading filmmaker. After a brief hiatus, Miller returned with The Accompanist (1992) and Le Sourire (1994), before reaching a high point with La Classe de Neige (1998), winner of the Cannes Jury Prize. His later oeuvre, including Betty Fisher et autres histoires (2001), La Petite Lili (2003), and A Secret (2007), displayed a mature balance of psychological depth and stylistic elegance. At the time of his death on 4 April 2012 in Paris, he was finalizing an adaptation of François Mauriac’s Thérèse Desqueyroux, a film selected to close Cannes that year, leaving behind a legacy of emotionally resonant storytelling and a profound influence on contemporary French cinema.