The Last Metro

During the German occupation of France, a stage actress and co-proprietor (Catherine Deneuve) of a Paris theater hides her Jewish husband/co-owner/director in the cellar during the course of their latest production while she balances the precarious books and feels a romantic attraction to her new leading man (Gerard Depardieu), himself an active member of the Resistance. Francois Truffaut's The Last Metro is presented on a beautiful color palette with superb cinematography by Nestor Almendros but the lack of a palpable, immediate Nazi presence/threat makes the film less thrilling and complete than it should be. Deneuve is lovely and as beautiful as ever while Depardieu, though charismatic as always, is barely believable as a Resistance agent nor is their romance particularly nspired. The ending is clever but slight.

*** out of ****

Jules and Jim

A sociable Frenchman (Henri Serre) and his brooding German best friend (Oskar Werner) alternately (and civilly) romance a beautiful, free spirited woman (Jeanne Moreau) in the years bookending the First World War. With its amazing, quick-cutting photography and fast paced, catch as catch can narrative, Francois Truffaut's much beloved Jules and Jim is as breezy as its characters in this affable and very, very French film.

The Adventures of Antoine Doinel

In 1959 Francois Truffaut, along with other members of the French New Wave, shook the world when he introduced the character of Antoine Doinel, a class clown quickly graduating to juvenile delinquency with disinterested parents and an affection for Balzac, in his masterful and intensely personal The 400 Blows. Played by Jean-Pierre Leaud, whose earnestness won over his director during the casting process, would return to the character with Truffaut five times over the course of twenty years in a series of films that turned away almost entirely from the inward emotiveness of the debut to a more lightly comic but still mostly masterful touch. 

As part of the 1962 anthology Love at Twenty, Antoine and Colette was the first followup and shows Antoine surprisingly on his own as a young man and attempting to woo a young woman whose feelings aren't exactly reciprocated. The film is observant and an excellent example of short form storytelling.

After a six year hiatus, Truffaut and Leaud returned to Doinel with Stolen Kisses, a light, disarming, and insightful picture showing their hero discharged from the military, job hopping, and taking up with an ex-girlfriend.

1970 saw the release of Bed & Board which was a little more dense and mostly focused on the story's comic highs. Here, Doinel finds himself married with a child on the way but still manages to entangled himself in an affair with a Japanese client.

Love on the Run concluded the series five years before Truffaut's death in 1984, although he claimed it was the final installment. Its story shows Antoine's marriage still intact although he continues to seek extramarital company elsewhere. The film imposes a flashback structure composed of clips from the other films which doesn't really work, but the new material is presented in the same vein as the others and is generally entertaining.

Fahrenheit 451

In a dystopian future, firemen no longer serve to protect the public from fiery blazes, but instead initiate them on anyone found to be housing books. Among their ranks is Montag who after making contact with a beautiful revolutionary woman, discovers a power and love of the written word and seeks to fight the oppression which he has practiced for so long. "Fahreneheit 451" is a reverential treatment of Ray Bradbury's masterful science fiction novel by Francois Truffaut, who omits much from the novel but still retains the book's spirit in what was his English language film debut. Oskar Werner delivers a marvelous, laconic performance as the hero though Julie Christie, as great an actress and beautiful as she is, throws the movie off somewhat playing dual, pivotal roles. Watching the film, I wanted more from the novel (Faber, the Hound, the great chase sequence, and other elements are altered or omitted entirely), but following the superb ending and Truffaut's clear admiration of the material, I found it hard to complain.

Shoot the Piano Player

Charlie was a once successful concert pianist who now plays in an out of the way dive in Paris. One day his ne'er-do-well brother comes stumbling into the joint, asking for his help in eluding two con men he's double crossed. Now mixed up in this mess, the reticent Charlie must ward off the bumbling crooks while protecting his kid brother Fido and romancing the beautiful cocktail waitress Lena. "Shoot the Piano Player" was legendary director Francois Truffaut second outing, and was one of the early film's of the French New Wave, clearly having been inspired by recent American crime pictures of the time. The film is a remarkable free flowing work, veering seamlessly from comedy to tragedy to romance to slapstick and back around again. Charles Aznavour is great in a dour performance as Charlie, playing a character who strongly resembles Truffaut. Marie Dubois is very beautiful and affecting as the cocktail waitress who has long had Aznavour's eye and Daniel Boulanger and Claude Mansard are an absolute hoot as Ernest and Momo, the bungling criminals. In trying to gauge my responses to this movie, I realized I had run the gamut. In this visually beautiful film, Truffaut has constructed a wild genre mashup that is simultaneously funny, touching, and seemingly effortless.

The Wild Child

In a French forest in 1798 hunters are dispatched to kill a wild animal which turns out to be a young boy raised in the wilderness who has no means of manner or verbal communication. Sent to the Institute of the Deaf and Dumb, a doctor takes the boy to his home, feeling the clinic's methods will not aid the boy. With the help of his maid, the doctor begins the painstaking stance of not only teaching the boy manners and how to talk, but also of instituting a moral sense within him. "The Wild Child" is an astonishing tale by director Francois Truffaut which is essentially an affecting story of love and determination. Truffaut himself plays the doctor, Jean-Pierre Cargol plays the wild boy, and Francoise Seigner plays the maid and all are terrific at playing determined individuals dealing with their extremely frustrating tasks at hand. The film is shot in beautifully delicate black and white and I admired Truffaut's bravery in showing the realities and the pains of a situation like this. I could see how there could be an urge to turn this into a padded success story full of triumphs, but the triumphs here are small and Truffaut wisely focuses on the determination, doubts, and affections of all three members of the group. "The Wild Child" is a fascinating film that is incredibly affecting without cutting corners.

Day for Night

As production begins on his latest film, a French director must contend with a hectic shooting schedule to avoid insurance issues, a worried producer, a love stricken prima donna actor, a high profile actress whom he's never met coming off a breakdown on her last set, a washed up drunken actress who can't remember her lines, on site romances, numerous questions from crew members, unforeseen happenings, technical problems, and a cat who can't follow his cues. Day for Night is legendary director Francois Truffaut's love letter to movies (He even stars as the understanding and put upon helmer Ferrand). The film unfolds at a breakneck pace and is wonderfully directed by a man who appears to be at the top of his craft. By using multiple visual techniques to demonstrate the many various facets that go into making a film, and getting a glimpse of what happens behind the camera and when it isn't rolling, we get a glimpse of how what we see on the screen isn't exactly the same as what goes into making it (the title refers to the process of filming a night scene during the daytime and filtering techniques to darken it. It can also be seen to mean how things aren't what they seem on screen). This is a fascinating look at what goes into the crafting of a film and Day for Night rightfully takes its place alongside other great movies about the movie making process such as Singin' in the Rain and Fellini's 8 1/2.