Francois Truffaut-let's get talking...

I have a thing for bookish, slightly manic brunettes with porcelain skin who write on foolscap : )

less authority, as it turns out, over adverbs

Jeanne Moreau is 85 today!

Who remembers that for 2 years she was married to William Friedkin?

*raises hand*

Didn't know it was two years though.

In that famous Biskind book, there's a story about the newlyweds seeing Star Wars together the week before Sorcerer opened.

Has anybody seen Such A Gorgeous Kid Like Me? It’s a comedy-noir that Truffaut did in ‘72 with Bernadette Lafont that apparently was never put out on video or DVD in the states. It looks…interesting.

― The Homeliness of The Long Distance Punner (Charles McCain), Tuesday, February 6, 2007 4:59 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

watched this. it's not good. not familiar w/ lafont but her character (& it's basically a character study of her) is painfully unconvincing, a manipulative sexpot who is so transparent i can only assume truffaut wants us to think every male on screen is 100% brainless & deserve their collective commuppance for each using her in their own way? which, idk, fine but im not sure the point.

Gotta remember to see what's up TCM tomorrow, since I've so far forgotten every Friday.

ya ive grabbed a lot

tmrw im recording day for night, last metro, wild child - never seen any of them!

seen the first and last of these, even stayed at the hotel in Nice where Day for Night was filmed.

RIP Bernadette Lafont ; (

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/jul/26/bernadette-lafont

Always one of my fave New Wave actors - and the most gorgeous IMHO.

^^Truth. Her first scene of Chabrol's A Double Tour-- http://31.media.tumblr.com/d3b9055f8e0ea5cb0e69db6a5620edcd/tumblr_mk6lzwvM7W1s5fvgyo1_250.gif

i realize i mustve known her from les bonnes femmes hm yea i liked her there

Criterion Blu-Ray of The Soft Skin looks good.

The DVD supplements are great! Lots about Hitch's influence on Truffaut, and Chabrol gets in a great dig about TSS's particularly inappropriate nod to Notorious (if you've seen both films, you probably remember the scene).

Found the film itself a minor letdown, though. The first hour, in particular, is terrifically paced, and the nods to Hitchcock kept me on my toes, at least until I figured out exactly where the film was going, but Truffaut's clear dislike of the two lead characters becomes an increasingly difficult obstacle to overcome. Truffaut himself seemed mildly dissatisfied with the film for this very reason, even pretty much saying so in the interview conducted around the time of the film's release that's included on the disc.

agree

Okay but when is Two English Girls getting released on Criterion I'm ready

He's a bore, but an interesting bore.

Last night saw one of the few Truffaut films I'd never seen before, La Chambre vert (1978). Per its reputation, moribund, lugubrious, and possessed of only the feeblest narrative drive; obviously, I liked it very much.

— 𝕿𝖗𝖔𝖚𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝕰𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖞 𝕯𝖆𝖞 (@NickPinkerton) August 23, 2018

otm

After a terrific opening fifteen minutes introducing the couple's environs, as cheerfully unrealistic as Jean Renoir's late films, Bed and Board gets weird, cute, and arch. Every scene with Doinel's Japanese mistress is terrible.

I don't know how I still haven't seen any Doinel films beyond The 400 Blows and the short.

Diminishing returns.

Stolen Kisses is pretty damn good.

Yes.

Very much so. I *like* the diminishing returns

Mississippi Mermaid better than I remembered but still about 30 mins too long. I kept thinking, "Chabrol would've tightened this shit."

surprised to see that this is the only Truffaut thread, with less than 100 posts

I think he's lacking in most things that draw people to the nouvelle vague - radical politics, youth culture cool...there's some experimental stuff in his early work but mostly he's quite a conventional filmmaker, narratively speaking. A lot of this could be applied to Rohmer as well but he's a more unique flavour.

That being said, dude did a lot of great movies!

_Mississippi Mermaid_ better than I remembered but still about 30 mins too long. I kept thinking, "Chabrol would've tightened this shit."

going back again chronologically I’ve only made it through Fahrenheit 451 so far. That film seems kind of bad to me, but I thought The 400 Blows, Shoot the Piano Player, Jules and Jim, and The Soft Skin were all pretty great

re: Bed and Board, "Every scene with Doinel's Japanese mistress is terrible." I was fascinated by those scenes

Day For Night, as a film about the making of a film and the deceptions and pretentiousness involved while at the same time showing the extreme flaws of the producers, actors and crew, was fascinating

Still need to catch that one.

Saw Jules and Jim on the big screen for the first time tonight. Conclusions:
1. It’s absolutely a masterpiece
2. Detractors are correct that the first half far outshines the second half, which gets slightly boring and circular
3. It might be retitled ‘Two Guys and a Manic Pixie Dream Girl.’ Jeanne Moreau’s character is an obvious narcissist, though no one in the film ever uses the n-word

it's definitely a foundational text for the mpdg phenomenon

Think maybe I first paid attention to Jeanne Moreau in Louis Malle’s Viva Maria!

https://www.radiancefilms.co.uk/products/the-bride-wore-black-le