Shoot the Piano Player
Encyclopedia
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
.
), bottoms out after his wife's suicide — stroking the keys in a Parisian dive bar. The waitress, Lena (Marie Dubois
), is falling in love with Charlie, who it turns out is not who he says he is. When his brothers get in trouble with gangsters, Charlie inadvertently gets dragged into the chaos and is forced to rejoin the family he once fled.
and a meditation on the relationship between art and commercialism.
cinema: extended voice-over
s, out-of-sequence shots and sudden jump cuts.
1960 in film
The year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...
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...
directed by François Truffaut
François Truffaut
François Roland Truffaut 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...
, 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...
.
The film is loosely based on the novel Down There by David Goodis
David Goodis
David Loeb Goodis was an American noir fiction writer.Born to a respectable Jewish family in Philadelphia, Goodis had two younger brothers, but one died of meningitis at the age of three...
.
Plot summary
A washed-up classical pianist, Charlie Koller/Eduard Saroyan (Charles AznavourCharles 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...
), bottoms out after his wife's suicide — stroking the keys in a Parisian dive bar. The waitress, Lena (Marie Dubois
Marie Dubois
Marie Dubois is a French actress.She made her film debut in 1959, and first gained notice in Shoot the Piano Player...
), is falling in love with Charlie, who it turns out is not who he says he is. When his brothers get in trouble with gangsters, Charlie inadvertently gets dragged into the chaos and is forced to rejoin the family he once fled.
Differences from novel
The film shares the novel's bleak plot about a man hiding from his shattered life by doing the only thing he knows how to do, while remaining unable to escape the past. However, Truffaut's work resolves itself into both a tribute to the American genre of literary and cinematic noirFilm 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 a meditation on the relationship between art and commercialism.
Cast
- Charles AznavourCharles AznavourCharles 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...
as Charlie Kohler / Edouard Saroyan - Marie DuboisMarie DuboisMarie Dubois is a French actress.She made her film debut in 1959, and first gained notice in Shoot the Piano Player...
as Léna - Nicole BergerNicole BergerNicole Berger was a French actress.-Biography:Berger was born in Paris. She had a brief theatrical career, particularly in the Compagnie Barrault-Renaud, before starting to film. Claude Autant-Lara gave her her first real chance in 1954, giving her one of the three leading roles in Le Blé en Herbe...
as Thérèse Saroyan - Michèle MercierMichèle MercierMichèle Mercier, is a French actress. In the course of her career she has worked with leading directors like François Truffaut, Jean-Pierre Melville, Jacques Deray, Dino Risi, Mario Monicelli, Mario Bava, Peter Collinson and Ken Annakin...
as Clarisse - Serge Davri as Plyne
- Claude Mansard as Momo
- Richard Kanayan as Fido Saroyan
- Albert RémyAlbert RémyAlbert Rémy was a French actor best known for his supporting roles in François Truffaut's first two feature films. He played Antoine Doinel's father in The 400 Blows and Charlie Koller's brother in Shoot the Piano Player...
as Chico Saroyan - Jean-Jacques Aslanian as Richard Saroyan
- Daniel BoulangerDaniel BoulangerDaniel Boulanger is a French novelist, playwright, poet and screenwriter. He has also played secondary roles in films and has been a member of the Académie Goncourt since 1983.-Filmography:...
as Ernest - Claude Heymann as Lars Schmeel
- Alex Joffé as Passerby
- Boby LapointeBoby LapointeRobert Lapointe was a French singer, noted for his humorous texts, alliterations and plays on words.He was born in Pézenas, in the Hérault département of France...
as Le chanteur - Catherine LutzCatherine LutzCatherine Lutz is an anthropologist who is currently Chair of the Anthropology Department at Brown University. She is also a director of the Watson Institute's Costs of War study, an attempt to calculate the financial costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars....
as Mammy
Soundtrack
- Boby Lapointe - "Framboise" (Written by Boby Lapointe, music by Boby Lapointe)
- Félix LeclercFélix LeclercFélix Leclerc, was a French-Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, writer, actor and Québécois political activist. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on December 20, 1968...
and Lucienne Vernay - "Dialogue d'Amoureux" (Written by Félix Leclerc))
Production
Truffaut's stylized and self-reflexive melodrama employs the hallmarks of French New WaveFrench 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...
cinema: extended voice-over
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
s, out-of-sequence shots and sudden jump cuts.