He was rejected on two occasions by the French film school Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC), now known as La Fémis.

A year later, a TV channel asked him to make a film about high school life, set in 1975, Le péril jeune.

In 1996, Klapisch gained greater international recognition after he directed two divergent films, Chacun cherche son chat (When the Cat's Away), and an adaptation of the French theatre comedy Un air de famille.

The film received César Awards for the script and for the female and male supporting roles, Catherine Frot and Jean-Pierre Daroussin.

[6] In November 2023 he directed a "wackily updated" production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.