François Truffaut
Encyclopedia
François Roland Truffaut (February 6, 1932– October 21, 1984) was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave
. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film
industry. He was also a screenwriter
, producer
, and actor working on over twenty-five films.
. His mother was Janine de Monferrand. His mother's future husband Roland Truffaut accepted him as an adopted son and gave him his surname. He was passed around to live with various nannies and his grandmother for a number of years. It was his grandmother who instilled in him her love of books and music. He lived with his grandmother until her death when Truffaut was ten years old. It was only after his grandmother's death that he lived with his parents for the first time. The identity of Truffaut's biological father was unknown, though a private detective agency in 1968 revealed that their enquiry into the matter led to a Roland Levy, a Jewish dentist from Bayonne
. Truffaut's mother's family disputed the findings but Truffaut himself believed and embraced them.
Truffaut would often stay with friends and try to be out of the house as much as possible. His best friend throughout his youth and until his death was Robert Lachenay
, who was the inspiration for the character René Bigey in The 400 Blows
and would work as an assistant on some of Truffaut's films. It was the cinema that offered him the greatest escape from an unsatisfying home life. He was eight years old when he saw his first movie, Abel Gance
's Paradis Perdu from 1939. It was there that his obsession began. He frequently played truant from school and would sneak into theaters because he didn't have enough money for admission. After being expelled from several schools, at the age of fourteen he decided to become self-taught. Some of his academic "goals" were to watch three movies a day and read three books a week.
Truffaut frequented Henri Langlois
' Cinémathèque Française
where he was exposed to countless foreign films from around the world. It was here that he became familiar with American cinema and directors such as John Ford
, Howard Hawks
, Nicholas Ray
as well as those of British director Alfred Hitchcock
.
, who would have great effect on his professional and personal life. Bazin was a critic and the head of another film society at the time. He became a personal friend of Truffaut's and helped him out of various financial and criminal situations during his formative years.
Truffaut joined the French Army
in 1950, aged 18, but spent the next two years trying to escape. Truffaut was arrested for attempting to desert the army. Bazin used his various political contacts to get Truffaut released and set him up with a job at his newly formed film magazine Cahiers du cinéma
. Over the next few years, Truffaut became a critic (and later editor) at Cahiers, where he became notorious for his brutal, unforgiving reviews. He was called "The Gravedigger of French Cinema" and was the only French critic not invited to the Cannes Film Festival
in 1958. He supported Andre Bazin in the development of one of the most influential theories of cinema itself, the auteur theory
.
In 1954, Truffaut wrote an article called "Une Certaine Tendance du Cinéma Français" ("A Certain Trend of French Cinema"), in which he attacked the current state of French films, lambasting certain screenwriters and producers. The article resulted in a storm of controversy. Truffaut later devised the auteur theory, which stated that the director was the "author" of his work; that great directors such as Renoir or Hitchcock have distinct styles and themes that permeate all of their films. Although his theory was not widely accepted then, it gained some support in the 1960s from American critic Andrew Sarris
. In 1967, Truffaut published his book-length interview of Hitchcock, Hitchcock/Truffaut (New York: Simon and Schuster).
After having been a critic, Truffaut decided to make films of his own. He started out with the short film Une Visite
in 1955 and followed that up with Les Mistons
in 1957. After seeing Orson Welles
' Touch of Evil
at the Expo 58, he was inspired to make his feature film debut in 1959 with Les Quatre Cent Coups
(The 400 Blows).
This film was an instant success and won him a prize at the Cannes Film Festival(http://www.francoistruffaut.com/bio.html). This film and the following films were successful even with the low budget he had to make the films.
He was also notably one of the main stars in Steven Spielberg
's 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind
, where he played scientist Claude Lacombe.
Truffaut was married to Madeleine Morgenstern from 1959 to 1965, and they had two daughters, Laura (born 1959) and Eva (born 1961). Madeleine was the daughter of Ignace Morgenstern, managing director of one of France's largest film distribution companies, and was largely responsible for securing funding for Truffaut's first films. While he had affairs with almost all of his leading ladies - in 1968 he was fiancé of Claude Jade
- Truffaut and actress Fanny Ardant
lived together from 1981 to 1984 and had a daughter, Joséphine Truffaut (born 28 September 1983).
. He died on 21 October 1984, aged 52 at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine
in France. At the time of his death, he still had numerous films in preparation. His goal was to make thirty films and then retire to write books for his remaining days. He was five films short of his personal goal. He is buried in Paris's Montmartre Cemetery
.
was released in 1959 to much critical and commercial acclaim. Truffaut received a Best Director award from the Cannes Film Festival
, the same festival that had banned him only one year earlier. The film follows the character of Antoine Doinel
through his perilous misadventures in school, an unhappy home life and later reform school. The film is highly autobiographical. Both Truffaut and Doinel were only children of loveless marriages; they both committed petty crimes of theft and truancy from the military. Truffaut cast Jean-Pierre Léaud
as Antoine Doinel. Léaud was seen as an ordinary boy of 13 who auditioned for the role after seeing a flyer, but interviews filmed after the film's release (one is included on the Criterion DVD of the film) reveal Léaud's natural sophistication and an instinctive understanding of acting for the camera. Léaud and Truffaut collaborated on several films over the years. Their most noteworthy collaboration was the continuation of the Antoine Doinel character in a series of films called "The Antoine Doinel Cycle".
The primary focus of The 400 Blows is centered on the life of a young character by the name of Antoine Doinel. This film follows this character through his troubled adolescence. He is caught in between an unstable parental relationship and an isolated youth. The film focuses on the real life events of the director, François Truffaut. From birth Truffaut was thrown into an undesired situation. As he was born out of wedlock, his birth had to remain a secret because of the social stigma associated with illegitimacy. He was registered as "A child born to an unknown father" in the hospital records. He was looked after by a nurse for an extended period of time. His mother eventually married and her husband Roland gave his surname, Truffaut, to François.
Although he was legally accepted as a legitimate child, his parents did not accept him. The Truffauts had another child who died shortly after birth. This experience saddened them greatly and as a result they despised François because of the memory of regret that he represented (Knopf 4). He was an outcast from his earliest years, dismissed as an unwanted child. François was sent to live with his grandparents. It wasn’t until François's grandmother's death before his parents took him in, much to the dismay of his own mother. The experiences with his mother were harsh. He recalled being treated badly by her but he found comfort in his father, Ronald Truffaut's laughter and overall spirit. The relationship with Ronald was more comforting than the one with his own mother. François had a very depressing childhood after moving in with his parents. They would leave him alone whenever they would go on vacations. He even recalled memories of being alone during Christmas. Being left alone forced François into a sense of independence, he would often do various tasks around the house in order to improve it such as painting or changing the electric outlets. Sadly, these kind gestures often resulted in a catastrophic event causing him to get scolded by his mother. His father would mostly laugh them off.
The 400 Blows marked the beginning of the French New Wave
movement, which gave directors such as Jean-Luc Godard
, Claude Chabrol
and Jacques Rivette
a wider audience. The New Wave dealt with a self-conscious rejection of traditional cinema structure. This was a topic on which Truffaut had been writing for years.
Following the success of The 400 Blows, Truffaut featured disjunctive editing and seemingly random voice-overs in his next film Shoot the Piano Player
(1960) starring Charles Aznavour
. Truffaut has stated that in the middle of filming, he realized that he hated gangsters. But since gangsters were a main part of the story, he toned up the comical aspect of the characters and made the movie more attuned to his liking. Even though Shoot the Piano Player was much appreciated by critics, it performed poorly at the box office. While the film focused on two of the French New Wave's favorite elements, American Film Noir
and themselves, Truffaut never again experimented as heavily.
In 1962, Truffaut directed his third movie, Jules and Jim
, a romantic drama starring Jeanne Moreau
. Over the next decade, Truffaut had varying degrees of success with his films. In 1965 he directed the American production of Ray Bradbury
's classic sci-fi novel Fahrenheit 451
. It showcased Truffaut's love of books. His only English-speaking film was a great challenge for Truffaut, because he barely spoke English himself. This was also his first film shot in color. The larger scale production was difficult for Truffaut, who had worked only with small crews and budgets.
Truffaut worked on projects with varied subjects. The Bride Wore Black
(1968), a brutal tale of revenge, is a stylish homage to the films of Alfred Hitchcock
(once again starring Jeanne Moreau). Mississippi Mermaid
(1969), with Catherine Deneuve
, is an identity-bending romantic thriller. Stolen Kisses
(1968) and Bed and Board
(1970) are continuations of the Antoine Doinel Cycle. And The Wild Child
(1970) included Truffaut's acting debut in the lead role of 18th century physician Jean Marc Gaspard Itard
.
Two English Girls
(1971) is the yin to the Jules and Jim yang. It is based on a story written by Henri-Pierre Roche
, who also wrote Jules and Jim. It is about a man who falls equally in love with two sisters, and their love affair over a period of years.
Day for Night
won Truffaut a Best Foreign Film Oscar
in 1973. The film is probably his most reflective work. It is the story of a film crew trying to finish their film while dealing with all of the personal and professional problems that accompany making a movie. Truffaut plays the director of the fictional film being made. This film features scenes shown in his previous films. It is considered to be his best film since his earliest work. Time magazine placed it on their list of 100 Best Films of the Century (along with The 400 Blows).
In 1975, Truffaut gained more notoriety with The Story of Adele H.
Isabelle Adjani
in the title role earned a nomination for a Best Actress Oscar
. Truffaut's 1976 film Small Change
gained a Golden Globe Nomination for Best Foreign Film
.
One of Truffaut's final films gave him an international revival. In 1980, his film The Last Metro
garnered twelve César Award
nominations with ten wins, including Best Director.
Truffaut's final movie was shot in black and white. It gives his career almost a sense of having bookends. In 1983 Confidentially Yours
is Truffaut's tribute to his favorite director, Alfred Hitchcock
. It deals with numerous Hitchcockian themes, such as private guilt vs. public innocence, a woman investigating a murder, anonymous locations, etc.
Among Truffaut's films, a series features the character Antoine Doinel
, played by the actor Jean-Pierre Léaud
. He began his career in The 400 Blows
at the age of fourteen, and continued as the favorite actor and "double" of Truffaut. The series continued with Antoine and Colette
(a short film in the anthology Love at Twenty), Stolen Kisses
(in which he falls in love with Christine Darbon alias Claude Jade
), Bed and Board
about the married couple Antoine and Christine—and, finally, Love on the Run
, where the couple go through a divorce.
In the last movies, Léaud's partner was played by Truffaut's favorite actress Claude Jade
as his girlfriend (and then wife), "Christine Darbon." During the filming of "Stolen Kisses, Truffaut himself fell in love with, and was briefly engaged to, Claude Jade.
A keen reader, Truffaut adapted many literary works, including two novels by Henri-Pierre Roché
, Ray Bradbury
's Fahrenheit 451
, Henry James
' "The Altar of the Dead
", filmed as The Green Room
, and several American detective novels
.
Truffaut's other films were from original screenplays, often co-written by the screenwriters Suzanne Schiffman
or Jean Gruault
. They featured diverse subjects, the sombre The Story of Adele H.
, inspired by the life of the daughter of Victor Hugo
, with Isabelle Adjani
; Day for Night, shot at the Studio La Victorine describing the ups and downs of film-making; and The Last Metro
, set during the German occupation of France, a film rewarded by ten César Award
s.
Known as being a lifelong cinephile, Truffaut once (according to the documentary François Truffaut: Stolen Portraits
) threw a hitchhiker he had picked up out of his car after learning that the hitchhiker didn't like films.
Truffaut is admired among other filmmakers and several tributes to his work have appeared in other films such as Almost Famous
, Face
and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
, as well as novelist Haruki Murakami
book Kafka on the Shore
.
, Ingmar Bergman
, Robert Bresson
, Martin Scorsese
, and Steven Spielberg
. He once called German New Wave filmmaker Werner Herzog
"the most important film director alive."
In 1973, Jean-Luc Godard
accused Truffaut of making a movie that was a “lie,” and Truffaut replied with a 20-page letter in which he accused Godard of being a radical-chic hypocrite, a man who believed everyone to be “equal” in theory only. The two never saw each other again.
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...
. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
industry. He was also a screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, and actor working on over twenty-five films.
Early life
Truffaut was born in Paris on 6 February 1932, out of wedlockWedlock
Wedlock may refer to:* Marriage* Wedlock , an album by Sunburned Hand of the Man* Wedlock , directed by Lewis Teague* Billy Wedlock, an English footballer* Fred Wedlock, an English folk singer...
. His mother was Janine de Monferrand. His mother's future husband Roland Truffaut accepted him as an adopted son and gave him his surname. He was passed around to live with various nannies and his grandmother for a number of years. It was his grandmother who instilled in him her love of books and music. He lived with his grandmother until her death when Truffaut was ten years old. It was only after his grandmother's death that he lived with his parents for the first time. The identity of Truffaut's biological father was unknown, though a private detective agency in 1968 revealed that their enquiry into the matter led to a Roland Levy, a Jewish dentist from Bayonne
Bayonne
Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
. Truffaut's mother's family disputed the findings but Truffaut himself believed and embraced them.
Truffaut would often stay with friends and try to be out of the house as much as possible. His best friend throughout his youth and until his death was Robert Lachenay
Robert Lachenay
Robert Lachenay was a French film critic and film crew member. He was François Truffaut's childhood friend and the inspiration for the character René Bigey in the first two films of the Antoine Doinel film series....
, who was the inspiration for the character René Bigey in The 400 Blows
The 400 Blows
The 400 Blows is a 1959 French film directed by François Truffaut. One of the defining films of the French New Wave, it displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. The story revolves around Antoine Doinel, an ordinary adolescent in Paris, who is thought by his parents and teachers...
and would work as an assistant on some of Truffaut's films. It was the cinema that offered him the greatest escape from an unsatisfying home life. He was eight years old when he saw his first movie, Abel Gance
Abel Gance
Abel Gance was a French film director and producer, writer and actor. He is best known for three major silent films: J'accuse , La Roue , and the monumental Napoléon .-Early life:...
's Paradis Perdu from 1939. It was there that his obsession began. He frequently played truant from school and would sneak into theaters because he didn't have enough money for admission. After being expelled from several schools, at the age of fourteen he decided to become self-taught. Some of his academic "goals" were to watch three movies a day and read three books a week.
Truffaut frequented Henri Langlois
Henri Langlois
Henri Langlois was a French film archivist and cinephile. A pioneer of film preservation, Langlois was an influential figure in the history of cinema...
' Cinémathèque Française
Cinémathèque Française
The Cinémathèque Française holds one of the largest archives of films, movie documents and film-related objects in the world. Located in Paris, the Cinémathèque holds daily screenings of films from around the world.-History:...
where he was exposed to countless foreign films from around the world. It was here that he became familiar with American cinema and directors such as John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
, Howard Hawks
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...
, Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause....
as well as those of British director Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
.
Career
After starting his own film club in 1948, Truffaut met André BazinAndré Bazin
André Bazin was a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist.-Life:Bazin was born in Angers, France, in 1918...
, who would have great effect on his professional and personal life. Bazin was a critic and the head of another film society at the time. He became a personal friend of Truffaut's and helped him out of various financial and criminal situations during his formative years.
Truffaut joined the French Army
French Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
in 1950, aged 18, but spent the next two years trying to escape. Truffaut was arrested for attempting to desert the army. Bazin used his various political contacts to get Truffaut released and set him up with a job at his newly formed film magazine Cahiers du cinéma
Cahiers du cinéma
Cahiers du Cinéma is an influential French film magazine founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca. It developed from the earlier magazine Revue du Cinéma involving members of two Paris film clubs — Objectif 49 and...
. Over the next few years, Truffaut became a critic (and later editor) at Cahiers, where he became notorious for his brutal, unforgiving reviews. He was called "The Gravedigger of French Cinema" and was the only French critic not invited to the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
in 1958. He supported Andre Bazin in the development of one of the most influential theories of cinema itself, the auteur theory
Auteur theory
In film criticism, auteur theory holds that a director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision, as if they were the primary "auteur"...
.
In 1954, Truffaut wrote an article called "Une Certaine Tendance du Cinéma Français" ("A Certain Trend of French Cinema"), in which he attacked the current state of French films, lambasting certain screenwriters and producers. The article resulted in a storm of controversy. Truffaut later devised the auteur theory, which stated that the director was the "author" of his work; that great directors such as Renoir or Hitchcock have distinct styles and themes that permeate all of their films. Although his theory was not widely accepted then, it gained some support in the 1960s from American critic Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris is an American film critic and a leading proponent of the auteur theory of criticism.-Career:Sarris is generally credited with popularizing the auteur theory in the U.S...
. In 1967, Truffaut published his book-length interview of Hitchcock, Hitchcock/Truffaut (New York: Simon and Schuster).
After having been a critic, Truffaut decided to make films of his own. He started out with the short film Une Visite
Une Visite
Une Visite was the first short film made by 23-year-old François Truffaut. It was filmed in Jacques Doniol-Valcroze’s apartment and its crew included Jacques Rivette, Alain Resnais and Truffaut's boyhood friend Robert Lachenay...
in 1955 and followed that up with Les Mistons
Les mistons
Les Mistons is a short film directed by François Truffaut in 1957.The story takes place in provincial France, where a group of young boys are infatuated with a beautiful young woman...
in 1957. After seeing Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
' Touch of Evil
Touch of Evil
Touch of Evil is a 1958 American crime thriller film, written, directed by, and co-starring Orson Welles. The screenplay was loosely based on the novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson...
at the Expo 58, he was inspired to make his feature film debut in 1959 with Les Quatre Cent Coups
The 400 Blows
The 400 Blows is a 1959 French film directed by François Truffaut. One of the defining films of the French New Wave, it displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. The story revolves around Antoine Doinel, an ordinary adolescent in Paris, who is thought by his parents and teachers...
(The 400 Blows).
This film was an instant success and won him a prize at the Cannes Film Festival(http://www.francoistruffaut.com/bio.html). This film and the following films were successful even with the low budget he had to make the films.
He was also notably one of the main stars in Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, and Cary Guffey...
, where he played scientist Claude Lacombe.
Truffaut was married to Madeleine Morgenstern from 1959 to 1965, and they had two daughters, Laura (born 1959) and Eva (born 1961). Madeleine was the daughter of Ignace Morgenstern, managing director of one of France's largest film distribution companies, and was largely responsible for securing funding for Truffaut's first films. While he had affairs with almost all of his leading ladies - in 1968 he was fiancé of Claude Jade
Claude Jade
Claude Marcelle Jorré, better known as Claude Jade , was a French actress, known for starring as Christine in François Truffaut's three films Stolen Kisses , Bed and Board and Love on the Run . Jade acted in theatre, film and television...
- Truffaut and actress Fanny Ardant
Fanny Ardant
Fanny Marguerite Judith Ardant is a French actress. She has appeared in more than fifty motion pictures since 1976. Ardant won the César Award for Best Actress in 1997 for her performance in Pédale douce.-Early life:...
lived together from 1981 to 1984 and had a daughter, Joséphine Truffaut (born 28 September 1983).
Death
In 1983, Truffaut was diagnosed with a brain tumorBrain tumor
A brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...
. He died on 21 October 1984, aged 52 at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine
Neuilly-sur-Seine
Neuilly-sur-Seine is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Although Neuilly is technically a suburb of Paris, it is immediately adjacent to the city and directly extends it. The area is composed of mostly wealthy, select residential...
in France. At the time of his death, he still had numerous films in preparation. His goal was to make thirty films and then retire to write books for his remaining days. He was five films short of his personal goal. He is buried in Paris's Montmartre Cemetery
Montmartre Cemetery
Montmartre Cemetery is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France.-History:Cemeteries had been banned from Paris since the shutting down of the Cimetière des Innocents in 1786, as they presented health hazards...
.
Work
The 400 BlowsThe 400 Blows
The 400 Blows is a 1959 French film directed by François Truffaut. One of the defining films of the French New Wave, it displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. The story revolves around Antoine Doinel, an ordinary adolescent in Paris, who is thought by his parents and teachers...
was released in 1959 to much critical and commercial acclaim. Truffaut received a Best Director award from the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, the same festival that had banned him only one year earlier. The film follows the character of Antoine Doinel
Antoine Doinel
Antoine Doinel is a fictional character created by French film director François Truffaut. Doinel is to a great extent an alter ego for Truffaut, sharing many of the same childhood experiences, looking somewhat alike and even being mistaken for one another on the street.Although Truffaut did not...
through his perilous misadventures in school, an unhappy home life and later reform school. The film is highly autobiographical. Both Truffaut and Doinel were only children of loveless marriages; they both committed petty crimes of theft and truancy from the military. Truffaut cast Jean-Pierre Léaud
Jean-Pierre Léaud
-Early years:Born in Paris, Léaud made his major debut as an actor at the age of 14 as Antoine Doinel, a semi-autobiographical character based on the life events of French film director François Truffaut, in The 400 Blows....
as Antoine Doinel. Léaud was seen as an ordinary boy of 13 who auditioned for the role after seeing a flyer, but interviews filmed after the film's release (one is included on the Criterion DVD of the film) reveal Léaud's natural sophistication and an instinctive understanding of acting for the camera. Léaud and Truffaut collaborated on several films over the years. Their most noteworthy collaboration was the continuation of the Antoine Doinel character in a series of films called "The Antoine Doinel Cycle".
The primary focus of The 400 Blows is centered on the life of a young character by the name of Antoine Doinel. This film follows this character through his troubled adolescence. He is caught in between an unstable parental relationship and an isolated youth. The film focuses on the real life events of the director, François Truffaut. From birth Truffaut was thrown into an undesired situation. As he was born out of wedlock, his birth had to remain a secret because of the social stigma associated with illegitimacy. He was registered as "A child born to an unknown father" in the hospital records. He was looked after by a nurse for an extended period of time. His mother eventually married and her husband Roland gave his surname, Truffaut, to François.
Although he was legally accepted as a legitimate child, his parents did not accept him. The Truffauts had another child who died shortly after birth. This experience saddened them greatly and as a result they despised François because of the memory of regret that he represented (Knopf 4). He was an outcast from his earliest years, dismissed as an unwanted child. François was sent to live with his grandparents. It wasn’t until François's grandmother's death before his parents took him in, much to the dismay of his own mother. The experiences with his mother were harsh. He recalled being treated badly by her but he found comfort in his father, Ronald Truffaut's laughter and overall spirit. The relationship with Ronald was more comforting than the one with his own mother. François had a very depressing childhood after moving in with his parents. They would leave him alone whenever they would go on vacations. He even recalled memories of being alone during Christmas. Being left alone forced François into a sense of independence, he would often do various tasks around the house in order to improve it such as painting or changing the electric outlets. Sadly, these kind gestures often resulted in a catastrophic event causing him to get scolded by his mother. His father would mostly laugh them off.
The 400 Blows marked the beginning of the French New Wave
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...
movement, which gave directors such as Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
, Claude Chabrol
Claude Chabrol
Claude Chabrol was a French film director, a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s...
and Jacques Rivette
Jacques Rivette
Jacques Rivette is a French film director. His most well known films include Celine and Julie Go Boating, La Belle Noiseuse and the cult film Out 1....
a wider audience. The New Wave dealt with a self-conscious rejection of traditional cinema structure. This was a topic on which Truffaut had been writing for years.
Following the success of The 400 Blows, Truffaut featured disjunctive editing and seemingly random voice-overs in his next film Shoot the Piano Player
Shoot the Piano Player
Shoot the Piano Player is a 1960 French film directed by François Truffaut, starring Charles Aznavour.The film is loosely based on the novel Down There by David Goodis.- Plot summary :...
(1960) starring Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour, OC is an Armenian-French singer, songwriter, actor, public activist and diplomat. Besides being one of France's most popular and enduring singers, he is also one of the best-known singers in the world...
. Truffaut has stated that in the middle of filming, he realized that he hated gangsters. But since gangsters were a main part of the story, he toned up the comical aspect of the characters and made the movie more attuned to his liking. Even though Shoot the Piano Player was much appreciated by critics, it performed poorly at the box office. While the film focused on two of the French New Wave's favorite elements, American Film Noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
and themselves, Truffaut never again experimented as heavily.
In 1962, Truffaut directed his third movie, Jules and Jim
Jules and Jim
Jules and Jim is a 1962 French film directed by François Truffaut based on Henri-Pierre Roché's 1953 semi-autobiographical novel about his relationship with writer Franz Hessel and his wife, Helen Grund....
, a romantic drama starring Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau is a French actress, singer, screenwriter and director.She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française...
. Over the next decade, Truffaut had varying degrees of success with his films. In 1965 he directed the American production of Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
's classic sci-fi novel Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 (1966 film)
Fahrenheit 451 is a 1966 film directed by François Truffaut, in his first colour film as well as his only English-language film. It is based on the novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury....
. It showcased Truffaut's love of books. His only English-speaking film was a great challenge for Truffaut, because he barely spoke English himself. This was also his first film shot in color. The larger scale production was difficult for Truffaut, who had worked only with small crews and budgets.
Truffaut worked on projects with varied subjects. The Bride Wore Black
The Bride Wore Black
The Bride Wore Black is a 1968 French film directed by François Truffaut and based on the novel of the same name by William Irish, a pseudonym for Cornell Woolrich. It stars Jeanne Moreau, Charles Denner, Alexandra Stewart, Michel Bouquet, Michael Lonsdale, Claude Rich and Jean-Claude Brialy.It is...
(1968), a brutal tale of revenge, is a stylish homage to the films of Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
(once again starring Jeanne Moreau). Mississippi Mermaid
Mississippi Mermaid
Mississippi Mermaid is a French film directed by François Truffaut. The film is adapted from the 1947 William Irish novel Waltz into Darkness. The film features Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Deneuve, and others. The film was the 17th highest grossing film of the year with a total of 1,221,027...
(1969), with Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
, is an identity-bending romantic thriller. Stolen Kisses
Stolen Kisses
Stolen Kisses is a 1968 French film directed by François Truffaut. It continues the story of the character Antoine Doinel, whom Truffaut had previously depicted in The 400 Blows and the short film Antoine and Colette...
(1968) and Bed and Board
Bed and Board
Bed and board may refer to:* Bed and Board, 1970 French film Domicile Conjugal* Divorce from bed and board, a marital arrangement where spouses live apart but do not legally dissolve the marriage...
(1970) are continuations of the Antoine Doinel Cycle. And The Wild Child
The Wild Child
The Wild Child is a French film by director François Truffaut. The film features Jean-Pierre Cargol, François Truffaut, Françoise Seigner and Jean Dasté. The film had a total of 1,458,164 admissions in France...
(1970) included Truffaut's acting debut in the lead role of 18th century physician Jean Marc Gaspard Itard
Jean Marc Gaspard Itard
Jean Marc Gaspard Itard was a French physician born in Provence.Without a university education and working at a bank, he was forced to enter the army during the French Revolution but presented himself as a physician at that time...
.
Two English Girls
Two English Girls
Two English Girls , is a 1971 French romantic drama film directed by François Truffaut and based on a 1956 novel by Henri-Pierre Roché...
(1971) is the yin to the Jules and Jim yang. It is based on a story written by Henri-Pierre Roche
Henri-Pierre Roché
Henri-Pierre Roché was a French author who was deeply involved with the artistic avant-garde in Paris and the Dada movement.- Biography :Roché was born in Paris, France. In 1898, he was an art student at the Académie Julian....
, who also wrote Jules and Jim. It is about a man who falls equally in love with two sisters, and their love affair over a period of years.
Day for Night
Day for Night (film)
La Nuit Américaine is a 1973 French film directed by François Truffaut. It stars Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Pierre Léaud. In French, nuit américaine is a technical process whereby sequences filmed outdoors in daylight are underexposed to appear as if they are taking place at night...
won Truffaut a Best Foreign Film Oscar
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
in 1973. The film is probably his most reflective work. It is the story of a film crew trying to finish their film while dealing with all of the personal and professional problems that accompany making a movie. Truffaut plays the director of the fictional film being made. This film features scenes shown in his previous films. It is considered to be his best film since his earliest work. Time magazine placed it on their list of 100 Best Films of the Century (along with The 400 Blows).
In 1975, Truffaut gained more notoriety with The Story of Adele H.
The Story of Adele H.
The Story of Adele H. is a 1975 French film which tells the story of the real-life Adèle Hugo, the daughter of writer Victor Hugo, whose obsessive unrequited love for a military officer led to her downfall. The film, told in French and English, is based on her diaries...
Isabelle Adjani
Isabelle Adjani
Isabelle Yasmine Adjani is a French film actress and singer. Adjani has appeared in 30 films since 1970. She holds the record for most César Awards for Best Actress with five, for Possession , One Deadly Summer , Camille Claudel , Queen Margot and Skirt Day...
in the title role earned a nomination for a Best Actress Oscar
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
. Truffaut's 1976 film Small Change
Small Change (film)
Small Change is a 1976 French film directed by François Truffaut. The title translates to "Pocket Money" from French, but since there was a Paul Newman movie called Pocket Money, Steven Spielberg suggested the title Small Change for US release. In English-speaking countries outside North America...
gained a Golden Globe Nomination for Best Foreign Film
Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the awards presented at the Golden Globes, an American film awards ceremony.Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film could be honoured...
.
One of Truffaut's final films gave him an international revival. In 1980, his film The Last Metro
The Last Metro
The Last Metro is a 1980 film made by Les Films du Carrosse, written and directed by the French filmmaker François Truffaut, and starring Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu....
garnered twelve César Award
César Award
The César Award is the national film award of France, first given out in 1975. The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma....
nominations with ten wins, including Best Director.
Truffaut's final movie was shot in black and white. It gives his career almost a sense of having bookends. In 1983 Confidentially Yours
Confidentially Yours
Confidentially Yours is a 1983 French film directed by François Truffaut. It is based on the novel The Long Saturday Night, by the American author Charles Williams, and was Truffaut's last film...
is Truffaut's tribute to his favorite director, Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
. It deals with numerous Hitchcockian themes, such as private guilt vs. public innocence, a woman investigating a murder, anonymous locations, etc.
Among Truffaut's films, a series features the character Antoine Doinel
Antoine Doinel
Antoine Doinel is a fictional character created by French film director François Truffaut. Doinel is to a great extent an alter ego for Truffaut, sharing many of the same childhood experiences, looking somewhat alike and even being mistaken for one another on the street.Although Truffaut did not...
, played by the actor Jean-Pierre Léaud
Jean-Pierre Léaud
-Early years:Born in Paris, Léaud made his major debut as an actor at the age of 14 as Antoine Doinel, a semi-autobiographical character based on the life events of French film director François Truffaut, in The 400 Blows....
. He began his career in The 400 Blows
The 400 Blows
The 400 Blows is a 1959 French film directed by François Truffaut. One of the defining films of the French New Wave, it displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. The story revolves around Antoine Doinel, an ordinary adolescent in Paris, who is thought by his parents and teachers...
at the age of fourteen, and continued as the favorite actor and "double" of Truffaut. The series continued with Antoine and Colette
Antoine and Colette
Antoine and Colette is the second film — a short — in François Truffaut's series about Antoine Doinel, the character he follows from boyhood to adulthood through five films...
(a short film in the anthology Love at Twenty), Stolen Kisses
Stolen Kisses
Stolen Kisses is a 1968 French film directed by François Truffaut. It continues the story of the character Antoine Doinel, whom Truffaut had previously depicted in The 400 Blows and the short film Antoine and Colette...
(in which he falls in love with Christine Darbon alias Claude Jade
Claude Jade
Claude Marcelle Jorré, better known as Claude Jade , was a French actress, known for starring as Christine in François Truffaut's three films Stolen Kisses , Bed and Board and Love on the Run . Jade acted in theatre, film and television...
), Bed and Board
Bed and Board
Bed and board may refer to:* Bed and Board, 1970 French film Domicile Conjugal* Divorce from bed and board, a marital arrangement where spouses live apart but do not legally dissolve the marriage...
about the married couple Antoine and Christine—and, finally, Love on the Run
Love on the Run (1979 film)
Love on the Run is a 1979 French film directed by François Truffaut. It is Truffaut's fifth and final film about the character Antoine Doinel. A lot of the film is made of a "clip show" of the previous films in the series...
, where the couple go through a divorce.
In the last movies, Léaud's partner was played by Truffaut's favorite actress Claude Jade
Claude Jade
Claude Marcelle Jorré, better known as Claude Jade , was a French actress, known for starring as Christine in François Truffaut's three films Stolen Kisses , Bed and Board and Love on the Run . Jade acted in theatre, film and television...
as his girlfriend (and then wife), "Christine Darbon." During the filming of "Stolen Kisses, Truffaut himself fell in love with, and was briefly engaged to, Claude Jade.
A keen reader, Truffaut adapted many literary works, including two novels by Henri-Pierre Roché
Henri-Pierre Roché
Henri-Pierre Roché was a French author who was deeply involved with the artistic avant-garde in Paris and the Dada movement.- Biography :Roché was born in Paris, France. In 1898, he was an art student at the Académie Julian....
, Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
's Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 (1966 film)
Fahrenheit 451 is a 1966 film directed by François Truffaut, in his first colour film as well as his only English-language film. It is based on the novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury....
, Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
' "The Altar of the Dead
The Altar of the Dead
"The Altar of the Dead" is a short story by Henry James, first published in his collection Terminations in 1895. A fable of literally life and death significance, the story explores how the protagonist tries to keep the remembrance of his dead friends, to save them from being forgotten entirely in...
", filmed as The Green Room
The Green Room (film)
The Green Room is a 1978 French film directed by François Truffaut and based on the Henry James short story "The Altar of the Dead", in which a man becomes obsessed with the many dead people in his life and builds a memorial to honor them. This film is also based on other short story by Henry...
, and several American detective novels
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
.
Truffaut's other films were from original screenplays, often co-written by the screenwriters Suzanne Schiffman
Suzanne Schiffman
Suzanne Schiffman was a screenwriter and director for numerous motion pictures. She often worked with François Truffaut. The 'script girl' Joelle, played by Nathalie Baye in Truffaut's Day for Night was based on Schiffman...
or Jean Gruault
Jean Gruault
Jean Gruault , is a French screenwriter and actor. He wrote 25 films between 1960 and 1995. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay for the 1980 film Mon oncle d'Amérique.He was born in Fontenay-sous-Bois, Paris....
. They featured diverse subjects, the sombre The Story of Adele H.
The Story of Adele H.
The Story of Adele H. is a 1975 French film which tells the story of the real-life Adèle Hugo, the daughter of writer Victor Hugo, whose obsessive unrequited love for a military officer led to her downfall. The film, told in French and English, is based on her diaries...
, inspired by the life of the daughter of Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
, with Isabelle Adjani
Isabelle Adjani
Isabelle Yasmine Adjani is a French film actress and singer. Adjani has appeared in 30 films since 1970. She holds the record for most César Awards for Best Actress with five, for Possession , One Deadly Summer , Camille Claudel , Queen Margot and Skirt Day...
; Day for Night, shot at the Studio La Victorine describing the ups and downs of film-making; and The Last Metro
The Last Metro
The Last Metro is a 1980 film made by Les Films du Carrosse, written and directed by the French filmmaker François Truffaut, and starring Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu....
, set during the German occupation of France, a film rewarded by ten César Award
César Award
The César Award is the national film award of France, first given out in 1975. The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma....
s.
Known as being a lifelong cinephile, Truffaut once (according to the documentary François Truffaut: Stolen Portraits
François Truffaut: Stolen Portraits
François Truffaut: Stolen Portraits is a 1993 French documentary film directed by Michel Pascal and Serge Toubiana, about the film director François Truffaut...
) threw a hitchhiker he had picked up out of his car after learning that the hitchhiker didn't like films.
Truffaut is admired among other filmmakers and several tributes to his work have appeared in other films such as Almost Famous
Almost Famous
Almost Famous is a 2000 musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe and telling the fictional story of a teenage journalist writing for Rolling Stone magazine while covering the fictitious rock band Stillwater , and his efforts to get his first cover story published...
, Face
Face (2009 film)
Face is a 2009 French film directed by Tsai Ming-liang. It was nominated for the Golden Palm at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Fanny Ardant as La productrice et la reine Hérodias* Laetitia Casta as La star et Salomé...
and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (film)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a 2007 biographical drama film based on Jean-Dominique Bauby's memoir of the same name. The film depicts Bauby's life after suffering a massive stroke, on December 8, 1995, at the age of 42, which left him with a condition known as locked-in syndrome. The...
, as well as novelist Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami
is a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and Jerusalem Prize among others.He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature...
book Kafka on the Shore
Kafka on the Shore
is a 2002 novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. John Updike described it as a "real page-turner, as well as an insistently metaphysical mind-bender"...
.
Attitude towards other filmmakers
Truffaut expressed his admiration for filmmakers such as Luis BuñuelLuis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
, Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
, Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson
-Life and career:Bresson was born at Bromont-Lamothe, Puy-de-Dôme, the son of Marie-Élisabeth and Léon Bresson. Little is known of his early life and the year of his birth, 1901 or 1907, varies depending on the source. He was educated at Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, close to Paris, and...
, Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
, and Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
. He once called German New Wave filmmaker Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
"the most important film director alive."
In 1973, Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
accused Truffaut of making a movie that was a “lie,” and Truffaut replied with a 20-page letter in which he accused Godard of being a radical-chic hypocrite, a man who believed everyone to be “equal” in theory only. The two never saw each other again.
Director: features
| Year | Title | Original title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | The 400 Blows The 400 Blows The 400 Blows is a 1959 French film directed by François Truffaut. One of the defining films of the French New Wave, it displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. The story revolves around Antoine Doinel, an ordinary adolescent in Paris, who is thought by his parents and teachers... |
Les Quatre Cents Coups | Antoine Doinel Antoine Doinel Antoine Doinel is a fictional character created by French film director François Truffaut. Doinel is to a great extent an alter ego for Truffaut, sharing many of the same childhood experiences, looking somewhat alike and even being mistaken for one another on the street.Although Truffaut did not... series |
| 1960 | Shoot the Piano Player Shoot the Piano Player Shoot the Piano Player is a 1960 French film directed by François Truffaut, starring Charles Aznavour.The film is loosely based on the novel Down There by David Goodis.- Plot summary :... |
Tirez sur le pianiste | |
| 1962 | Jules and Jim Jules and Jim Jules and Jim is a 1962 French film directed by François Truffaut based on Henri-Pierre Roché's 1953 semi-autobiographical novel about his relationship with writer Franz Hessel and his wife, Helen Grund.... |
Jules et Jim | |
| 1964 | The Soft Skin | La Peau douce | |
| 1966 | Fahrenheit 451 Fahrenheit 451 (1966 film) Fahrenheit 451 is a 1966 film directed by François Truffaut, in his first colour film as well as his only English-language film. It is based on the novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury.... |
Fahrenheit 451 | Filmed in English |
| 1968 | The Bride Wore Black The Bride Wore Black The Bride Wore Black is a 1968 French film directed by François Truffaut and based on the novel of the same name by William Irish, a pseudonym for Cornell Woolrich. It stars Jeanne Moreau, Charles Denner, Alexandra Stewart, Michel Bouquet, Michael Lonsdale, Claude Rich and Jean-Claude Brialy.It is... |
La Mariée était en noir | |
| 1968 | Stolen Kisses Stolen Kisses Stolen Kisses is a 1968 French film directed by François Truffaut. It continues the story of the character Antoine Doinel, whom Truffaut had previously depicted in The 400 Blows and the short film Antoine and Colette... |
Baisers volés | Antoine Doinel series; nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences... |
| 1969 | Mississippi Mermaid Mississippi Mermaid Mississippi Mermaid is a French film directed by François Truffaut. The film is adapted from the 1947 William Irish novel Waltz into Darkness. The film features Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Deneuve, and others. The film was the 17th highest grossing film of the year with a total of 1,221,027... |
La sirène du | |
| 1970 | The Wild Child The Wild Child The Wild Child is a French film by director François Truffaut. The film features Jean-Pierre Cargol, François Truffaut, Françoise Seigner and Jean Dasté. The film had a total of 1,458,164 admissions in France... |
L'Enfant sauvage | |
| 1970 | Bed and Board Bed and Board Bed and board may refer to:* Bed and Board, 1970 French film Domicile Conjugal* Divorce from bed and board, a marital arrangement where spouses live apart but do not legally dissolve the marriage... |
Domicile conjugal | Antoine Doinel series |
| 1971 | Two English Girls Two English Girls Two English Girls , is a 1971 French romantic drama film directed by François Truffaut and based on a 1956 novel by Henri-Pierre Roché... |
Les Deux anglaises et le continent | |
| 1972 | Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me is a 1972 French film directed by François Truffaut, starring Bernadette Lafont. It is based on Henry Farrell's 1967 novel Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me. The film had a total of 684,539 admissions in France. -Plot:... |
Une belle fille comme moi | |
| 1973 | Day for Night Day for Night (film) La Nuit Américaine is a 1973 French film directed by François Truffaut. It stars Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Pierre Léaud. In French, nuit américaine is a technical process whereby sequences filmed outdoors in daylight are underexposed to appear as if they are taking place at night... |
La Nuit américaine | Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences... |
| 1975 | The Story of Adele H. The Story of Adele H. The Story of Adele H. is a 1975 French film which tells the story of the real-life Adèle Hugo, the daughter of writer Victor Hugo, whose obsessive unrequited love for a military officer led to her downfall. The film, told in French and English, is based on her diaries... |
L'Histoire d'Adèle H. | |
| 1976 | Small Change Small Change (film) Small Change is a 1976 French film directed by François Truffaut. The title translates to "Pocket Money" from French, but since there was a Paul Newman movie called Pocket Money, Steven Spielberg suggested the title Small Change for US release. In English-speaking countries outside North America... |
L'Argent de poche | Called Pocket Money in English-speaking countries outside North America. Entered into the 26th Berlin International Film Festival 26th Berlin International Film Festival The 26th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from June 25 to July 6, 1976.-Jury:* Jerzy Kawalerowicz * Hannes Schmidt* Marjorie Bilbow* Michel Ciment* Guido Cinotti* Georgi Daneliya* Wolf Hart* Bernard R... . |
| 1977 | The Man Who Loved Women The Man Who Loved Women (1977 film) The Man Who Loved Women is a 1977 French comedy/drama film directed by François Truffaut and starring Charles Denner, Brigitte Fossey and Nelly Borgeaud. In 1983, it was remade in Hollywood under the same title. The film had a total of 955,262 admissions in France. -Plot:Montpellier: December 1976... |
L'Homme qui aimait les femmes | Entered into the 27th Berlin International Film Festival 27th Berlin International Film Festival The 27th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from June 24 to July 5, 1977.-Jury:* Senta Berger * Ellen Burstyn* Helène Vager* Rainer Werner Fassbinder* Derek Malcolm* Andrej Michaolkow-Kontschalowski* Ousmane Sembène... . |
| 1978 | The Green Room The Green Room (film) The Green Room is a 1978 French film directed by François Truffaut and based on the Henry James short story "The Altar of the Dead", in which a man becomes obsessed with the many dead people in his life and builds a memorial to honor them. This film is also based on other short story by Henry... |
La Chambre verte | |
| 1979 | Love on the Run Love on the Run (1979 film) Love on the Run is a 1979 French film directed by François Truffaut. It is Truffaut's fifth and final film about the character Antoine Doinel. A lot of the film is made of a "clip show" of the previous films in the series... |
L'Amour en fuite | Antoine Doinel series, entered into the 29th Berlin International Film Festival 29th Berlin International Film Festival The 29th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 20 to March 3, 1979.-Jury:* Julie Christie* Romain Gary* Ingrid Caven* Georg Alexander* Liliana Cavani* Jörn Donner* Paul Bartel* Pál Gábor-Films in competition:... . |
| 1980 | The Last Metro The Last Metro The Last Metro is a 1980 film made by Les Films du Carrosse, written and directed by the French filmmaker François Truffaut, and starring Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu.... |
Le Dernier métro | |
| 1981 | The Woman Next Door | La Femme d'à côté | |
| 1983 | Confidentially Yours Confidentially Yours Confidentially Yours is a 1983 French film directed by François Truffaut. It is based on the novel The Long Saturday Night, by the American author Charles Williams, and was Truffaut's last film... |
Vivement dimanche! |
Director: shorts
| Year | Title | Original title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | A Visit Une Visite Une Visite was the first short film made by 23-year-old François Truffaut. It was filmed in Jacques Doniol-Valcroze’s apartment and its crew included Jacques Rivette, Alain Resnais and Truffaut's boyhood friend Robert Lachenay... |
Une Visite | |
| 1957 | The Mischief Makers Les mistons Les Mistons is a short film directed by François Truffaut in 1957.The story takes place in provincial France, where a group of young boys are infatuated with a beautiful young woman... |
Les Mistons | |
| 1958 | A Story of Water Une histoire d'eau A Story of Water is a film directed and written by Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut in 1958. It recounts the story of a woman's trip to Paris, which is surrounded by a large flooded area... |
Une Histoire d'eau | Co-directed with Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave".... |
| 1961 | Tire-au-flanc 62 | Co-directed with Claude de Givray Claude de Givray Claude de Givray is a French film director and screenwriter. He directed the 1965 film Un mari à un prix fixe, which starred Anna Karina.-Selected filmography:* Un mari à un prix fixe... |
|
| 1962 | Antoine and Colette Antoine and Colette Antoine and Colette is the second film — a short — in François Truffaut's series about Antoine Doinel, the character he follows from boyhood to adulthood through five films... |
Antoine et Colette | Antoine Doinel series, segment from Love at Twenty Love at Twenty Love at Twenty is a 1962 French-produced omnibus project of Pierre Roustang, consisting of five segments directed by five directors from five different countries... |
Screenwriter only
| Year | Title | Original title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Breathless | À bout de souffle | Directed by Jean-Luc Godard |
| 1988 | The Little Thief The Little Thief The Little Thief is a 1988 French drama directed by Claude Miller. It is based upon an unfinished script by François Truffaut. Truffaut died before being able to direct the film himself.-Plot:... |
La Petite voleuse | Directed by Claude Miller Claude Miller Claude Miller is a French film director, producer and screenwriter.-Career:Claude Miller was born to a Jewish family. A student at Paris' IDHEC film school from 1962 through 1963, Miller had his first practical cinematic experience while he was in uniform, serving with the Service Cinéma de l'Armée... |
| 1995 | Belle Époque | Belle Époque | Miniseries Miniseries A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term... , with Jean Gruault Jean Gruault Jean Gruault , is a French screenwriter and actor. He wrote 25 films between 1960 and 1995. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay for the 1980 film Mon oncle d'Amérique.He was born in Fontenay-sous-Bois, Paris.... ; directed by Gavin Millar |
Actor
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | The 400 Blows The 400 Blows The 400 Blows is a 1959 French film directed by François Truffaut. One of the defining films of the French New Wave, it displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. The story revolves around Antoine Doinel, an ordinary adolescent in Paris, who is thought by his parents and teachers... |
Man in Funfair (uncredited) | |
| 1970 | The Wild Child The Wild Child The Wild Child is a French film by director François Truffaut. The film features Jean-Pierre Cargol, François Truffaut, Françoise Seigner and Jean Dasté. The film had a total of 1,458,164 admissions in France... |
Dr. Jean Itard | |
| 1970 | Bed & Board | Newspaper vendor - voice (uncredited) | |
| 1973 | Day for Night Day for Night (film) La Nuit Américaine is a 1973 French film directed by François Truffaut. It stars Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Pierre Léaud. In French, nuit américaine is a technical process whereby sequences filmed outdoors in daylight are underexposed to appear as if they are taking place at night... |
Ferrand, the film director | |
| 1975 | The Story of Adele H. The Story of Adele H. The Story of Adele H. is a 1975 French film which tells the story of the real-life Adèle Hugo, the daughter of writer Victor Hugo, whose obsessive unrequited love for a military officer led to her downfall. The film, told in French and English, is based on her diaries... |
Officer (uncredited) | |
| 1976 | Small Change Small Change (film) Small Change is a 1976 French film directed by François Truffaut. The title translates to "Pocket Money" from French, but since there was a Paul Newman movie called Pocket Money, Steven Spielberg suggested the title Small Change for US release. In English-speaking countries outside North America... |
Martine's Father (uncredited) | |
| 1977 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind Close Encounters of the Third Kind Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, and Cary Guffey... |
Claude Lacombe | Directed by Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an... |
| 1978 | The Green Room The Green Room (film) The Green Room is a 1978 French film directed by François Truffaut and based on the Henry James short story "The Altar of the Dead", in which a man becomes obsessed with the many dead people in his life and builds a memorial to honor them. This film is also based on other short story by Henry... |
Julien Davenne | |
| 1981 | The Woman Next Door | Cameo (uncredited) |
Producer only
| Year | Title | Original title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Good Anna | Anna la bonne | Directed by Harry Kümel |
| 1960 | Testament of Orpheus Testament of Orpheus Testament of Orpheus is a 1960 film directed by and starring Jean Cocteau. It is considered the final part of the Orphic Trilogy, following The Blood of a Poet and Orphée... |
Le testament d'Orphée | Directed by Jean Cocteau Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María... |
| 1961 | The Gold Bug | Le scarabée d'or | Directed by Robert Lachenay Robert Lachenay Robert Lachenay was a French film critic and film crew member. He was François Truffaut's childhood friend and the inspiration for the character René Bigey in the first two films of the Antoine Doinel film series.... |
| 1968 | Naked Childhood L'Enfance Nue Naked Childhood is a 1968 French film. It was the feature-length debut of director Maurice Pialat, and was written by Pialat and Arlette Langmann. François Truffaut was one of the film's producers.... |
L'Enfance Nue | Directed by Maurice Pialat Maurice Pialat Maurice Pialat was a French film director, screenwriter and actor noted for the rigorous and unsentimental style of his films... |
See also
- List of notable brain tumor patients
- François Truffaut AwardFrançois Truffaut AwardThe François Truffaut Award is a French film award awarded at the Giffoni Film Festival for films for children.-Recipients:*Meg Ryan*Jean-Jacques Annaud*Jeremy Irons*Abbas Kiarostami*Ben Kingsley*Søren Kragh-Jacobsen*Samira Makhmalbaf*Louis Malle...
- François Truffaut: Stolen PortraitsFrançois Truffaut: Stolen PortraitsFrançois Truffaut: Stolen Portraits is a 1993 French documentary film directed by Michel Pascal and Serge Toubiana, about the film director François Truffaut...
, a 1993 documentary film - Two in the WaveTwo in the WaveTwo in the Wave is a 2010 French documentary film directed by Emmanuel Laurent. The film examines the friendship between French directors François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, the two most prominent figures of the French New Wave movement in the late 50's and early 60's....
, a 2010 documentary film about Truffaut's relationship with Jean-Luc GodardJean-Luc GodardJean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
External links
- New Wave Film Encyclopedia: "François Truffaut" an extensive biography
- François Truffaut bibliography via the UC Berkeley Media Resources Center
- Francois Truffaut at The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
Film - Francois Truffaut at The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Movies - Legendary interview with Truffaut from 1970
- An article on Truffaut and his influence by director Martin Scorsese as he commemorates him as one of the 60 greatest heroes from Europe as selected by Time magazine
- AllMovie.com Biography