Francois Truffaut: Revised and Updated Edition (1978, 1989, 1994)

 

Annette Insdorf's brilliant study of the films of the great French director, François Truffaut is a must read for anyone interested in film analysis.  

As many of you probably know Truffaut (like many members of the French New Wave) started as a critic before becoming a filmmaker himself. As a critic one of the ideas that he championed what he referred to as auteurs. These were filmmakers whose own personal stamp was deeply evident in most (if not all) of their films. He felt that directors should be the author of movies and that their individual films could be analyzed not only by themselves but as a part of the directors' greater work. That there should be themes and visual motifs that ran through their work that would make a great filmmaker's work constantly interesting, even in their weaker films. Though Truffaut was an auteur himself, his own personal stamp can be harder to identify than those of his peer Jean Luc Goddard or his idol Alfred Hitchcock. That is why this book is incredibly important to anyone studying the great French director's films. The point of this book is to study and analyze the various themes and motifs that run through Truffaut's work. Through brilliant writing and insight, simply reading this book can give one a greater understanding of his work as a whole. Digging into not only the filmmaker's films but also his personal life, his influences and his critical writings, we begin to see how through his film's Truffaut has painted a rather complex and articulate self-portrait. After reading this book, I grew an even greater appreciation for someone who was already one of my favorite filmmakers and gave me a strong desire to revisit his movies. I can't wait to rewatch these films and see them in a brand-new light.

The first chapter examines Truffaut's transition from a critic and movie lover to a filmmaker. The second chapter examines the influence of Alfred Hitchcock on his work. The third examines the influence of French director Jean Renoir on his work. The fourth takes a look at the evolving role of women in his films. The fifth involves the role of children in his films (Truffaut has been praised for his honest and understanding depiction of children more than anything else). The sixth chapter takes a look at the autobiographic nature of his movies as well as the use of literary text. The seventh chapter was added to later additions and features a deep delve into his final five films, which were not around when Insdorf wrote the original version of the book. 

This is simply a must read for any Truffaut fan, and anyone interested in well written and though out film analysis.   

 

Video Link: Truffaut on the Auteur Theory

Movie Review: Shortcomings

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

A very funny and intelligent romantic comedy. 

This film marks the feature length directorial debut (though he has directed some TV episodes) of actor and comedian Randall Park (Marvel fans might know him as Jimmy Woo in the Ant-Man movies and Wanda Vision). Even this early in his directorial career he proves himself to be a very mature filmmaker with a lot to say. He and writer Adrian Tomine (who also wrote the 2007 graphic novel on which this film was based) take what could have been a traditional romantic comedy and turn it into something much more powerful and insightful. Early in the film, the main character after attending a movie premiere of a film he hated stated that one of the problems with the movie he just watched was that the protagonists had no real flaws. This can certainly not be said of Shortcomings. In fact the flaws of the main characters are what this movie is all about. Our main protagonist is a pretentious want to be filmmaker who runs a small art house cinema and looks down his nose at anything currently mainstream (in one scene he talks about a co-worker saying that it is sad that all the movies he likes are on Disney+). Not only can he be a pretentious snob but most of his actions are completely selfish and this is especially true when it comes to his friendships and romantic relationships. While these major character flaws would be a death sentence to most romantic comedy films, they are what make this one special. This film is just as much a character study as a romantic comedy. Because of this while we may not like his actions, we can't help but see ourselves in him. We all have acted like this at times and we all have felt like him. Therefore it is hard not to feel somewhat of a connection to him. Also this movie is about him coming to terms with his faults and realizing that even though he is in his thirties, he is far from a mature adult. This is also something we can all relate to, because no matter what age we are we all have at least a little growing up to do. Because of this, we have a strong emotional connection to this far from traditionally likable character and go through each of the experiences with him. Also helping out is how touching his deep friendship is with his best friend. Even when these characters are fighting and angry at each other, you can tell how much they care about each other and this adds a lot of warmth to the movie in a seemingly effortless way. It doesn't hurt that Justin H. Min and Sherry Cola have simply wonderful chemistry together. 

It of course also doesn't hurt that this movie is laugh out loud hilarious. I expected to enjoy this film, but I did not expect to laugh the way I did. There are so many truly hilarious moments in this movie. Film buffs will especially love the conversations between the employees at the movie theater over various movies, as they are truly hilarious and all us movie people have heard conversations like these. Sherry Cola is truly hilarious in nearly every comedic moment she is given, showing us just how much of a comedic talent she is. However the bizarre comedic highlight is the act, one of our main character's co-workers at the movie theater puts on at a club. The act is so bizarre and simply a perfect parody of anything that tries to be experimental and artsy and fails miserably at being such. What makes the scene work so well is that as over the top and insane as it is, the parody is spot on for anyone who has ever seen this kind of art. 

Also simply how can I not love a romantic comedy that features clips from Yasujirō Ozu and François Truffaut films. 

This is simply a wonderful movie. 

Video Link: Breaking The Rules - The French New Wave | The Cinema Cartography

Video Link: François Truffaut interview 1960

Video Link: A Tribute to JEANNE MOREAU - Adyfilk

Video Link: The MOST BEAUTIFUL SHOTS of FRANCOIS TRUFFAUT Movies - Adyfilk

Shoot The Piano Player (Tirez sur le pianiste) (1960)

After The 400 Blows, François Truffaut decided he wanted to do something quite different for his next feature. That something different was Shoot The Piano Player. Freely adapted from the novel Down There by David Goodis, Shoot The Piano Player is Truffaut’s most playful film. This movie is sometimes comic, sometimes tragic and sometimes suspenseful but always entertaining and mesmerizing. None of this feels forced and these elements fit together extremely well, a difficult feat for any film maker to accomplish.



Without a major studio backing the film, much of the shooting was done on the streets of Paris. Though the film was based off a book, much of the script was written as the movie was being filmed. Because of this and the crew being quite sure of themselves due to the success of The 400 Blows.  Many of the people working on this film considered this one of the most fun times they ever had making a movie. With all this it is no wonder that Shoot The Piano Player has a sense of freedom and spontaneity few films have.



Truffaut found casting to be one of the easier parts of making this movie. After seeing Charles Aznavour in Georges Franju’s Head Against the Wall, Truffaut wrote the lead of this film with him in mind. Richard Kanayan played one of the school children in The 400 Blows and everybody working on the film found him entertaining so he was given a bigger role here. Truffaut saw a woman named Claudine Huz’e on TV and decided she should be in this film. He suggested her screen name of Marie Dubois, because she reminded him of the main character in the book Marie Dubois.

François Truffaut and Marcel Moussy started writing the script together. However unlike on The 400 Blows, the two did not see eye to eye. Moussy saw this film as a straightforward story, but Truffaut saw a spontaneous exercise in cinematic freedom. Truffaut also felt the characters should be less heroic than in the novel, which Moussy disagreed with. Moussy would leave this film early in the writing and Truffaut would finish writing the script his way.

Shoot The Piano Player was not the hit The 400 Blows had been. In fact it was not a hit at all. It fared no better with critics. Despite this the film is a classic, Truffaut was for a while unhappy for this film, probably due to it’s reception. However today many movie-lovers have discovered just how great this film is and it has found the respect it deserves.

-Michael J. Ruhland

The 400 Blows (Les quatre cents coups) (1959)

François Truffaut’s first feature is not only one of his best but also one of his most personal films as well. Much of the story of Antoine Doniel comes from Truffaut’s own childhood. Like Antoine, young François didn’t have the happiest childhood. For both of them their major escape was the movies. Both of them would often skip school to see movies. Both grew a love a literature outside of school. Still much of Antoine Doniel’s character also came from the actor who played him, Jean Perrie-Leud. Truffaut put an ad in the newspaper stating that he was looking for a 13 year old boy to play a lead in a film, with no more information than that and where to audition. Jean Perrie-Leud, skipped school and took a bus to the audition. Truffaut instantly felt a kinship with this kid and knew he would play the part. This young boy brought much to the character, including dialog for the psychiatric examination scene. He would go on to become one of the main actors of the French New Wave, including appearing in many of Truffaut’s films. The child actors who didn’t get the role played the other students in the classroom.



Tough Truffaut did much of the writing for The 400 Blows, he did have a co-writer. That co-writer was Marcel Mousey, who was at the time who at the time was working as a television writer. One of the reasons he was hired was because he was a former school teacher, and that experience would come in handy during the classroom scenes. Despite working with Francois on the script Marcel Mousey was not aware just how autobiographical the film was. François made sure that Antione was the focus of the film, because of this there are very few scenes in which Antione does not appear and even in these small scenes, he is the center of the conversation.

The 400 Blows is an incredible movie. The character of Antione becomes so real to us when we watch this film. We feel sorry for him, but in some ways kind of admire the kid as well. He is as close to a real kid as any kid character in a movie can be. Unlike many kids in movies, the film never goes out of its way to make him overly cute. Yet the movie also never makes him an unlikable Hellraiser. He is a tough kid, yet also very venerable. He is very smart but can also be naïve. He does some bad things, but is never a bad kid. These traits that are seemingly contradictory written down are not at all so on the screen. They make up one of the most real and believable characters in the history of cinema. Truffaut also makes this film feel so real by keeping it from being the depressing tragedy it could have been. Life is not just one tragic moment after another. In between the tragedy is joy and fun. There are moments of great humor in this movie. The most famous being a fantastic scene where a PE teacher having the kids run through the streets only to have them keep disappearing two at time until the teacher is all by himself. One of the most joyous scenes in the film involves Antione in a spinning wheel ride. After seeing some brutally tragic scene before this the contrast makes this down right cathartic. As well as a joy for the character this scene is also joyous for the filmmakers. Truffaut was completely in love with cinema and still had much of his youthful energy and enthusiasm towards making movies. This is the type of scene that many filmmakers would have left out or shot in a more conventional way. However here Truffaut is excited about breaking the rules and truly seeing what can be done with this great artform. This joy and youthful excitement completely overcomes us as we watch this scene. The scene also serves as one of Truffaut's many love letters to the movies in his films, as the way it is shot and designed reminds one of a zoetrope, one of the precursors to movies.   

The 400 Blows was a huge hit and hailed as a master piece of cinema. The success of this film and the director’s closeness to it lead us to more Antione Doinel movies in the future.

-Michael J. Ruhland  

Michael's Christmas Movie Guide: Mon Oncle Antonie (1971)

This French Language film has been voted by critics as the best Canadian Film of all time at Toronto International Film Festival for three decades in a row. Is it deserving of this praise? Well I have not seen every Canadian film ever made, but I can perfectly believe this praise. This is a masterpiece.

The original title for this movie was Silent Night. This referred both to the story's Christmas setting, but also to the time period it takes place. It refers in part to life in Quebec before The Quiet Revelation. This was not a happy time, and unlike many Christmas films, this is not nostalgic in the least.

This film is directed and Co-written by Claude Jutra, who is one of the most respected Canadian directors, having directed such films as Take it All. He spent a while in France earlier where he worked with such great French directors as François Truffaut and Jean Roach. Truffaut had even produced Jutra's short film Anna la Bonne. 

This movie is a great work of art. It is much deeper, more complex, and thought provoking than it's seemingly simple story would have you think. Many critics and audiences still argue about what the film is truly about. Rather than give you a detailed analysis of what this film is about I will rather let you watch it for yourself. I do this not because I don't have my own theory (which I do), but because I think that coming up with your own interpretation, while watching this film will enhance your movie watching experience. Also what has to be mentioned when talking about this film is Michel Brault's excellent cinematography, which is just incredible. This is an art film, so some might be turned off by that, but I recommend giving it a try anyway, because there are much worse things you can do with your life than to watch a great work of art like this.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/84416/Mon-Oncle-Antoine/articles.html