A noted autobiographer, Joffo was perhaps best known for his memoir Un sac de billes (A Bag of Marbles), which has been translated into eighteen languages.

His memoir Un sac de billes (A Bag of Marbles), written as a novel, tells the story of Joffo as a young Jewish boy during the Holocaust.

The boys then spend four blissfully safe months in Menton on the border of France and Italy with their older brothers Henri and Albert, before having to leave the town for Nice where their parents are waiting.

His novel Baby-foot, published in 1977, follows on from Un sac de billes and describes his life in Paris following World War II and his discovery of American values.

During filming in Nice, the hanging of a Nazi flag on the Palais des Rois Sardes caused a frenzy between the local population and the crew.