François Truffaut

François Truffaut

Born François Roland Truffaut
6 February 1932(1932-02-06)
Paris, France
Died 21 October 1984 (aged 52)
Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France
Years active 1955 - 1983
Spouse(s) Madeleine Morgenstern (1957-1965)

François Roland Truffaut (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa tʁyfo]; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was one of the founders of the French New Wave in filmmaking, and remains an icon of the French film industry. In a film career lasting just over a quarter of a century, he was screenwriter, director, producer or actor in over twenty-five films.

Contents

Life

Truffaut was born on 6 February 1932, out of wedlock. He never met his biological father, who was a Jewish dentist. 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.

Truffaut would often stay with friends and try to be out of the house as much as possible. 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 fell in love with U.S. cinema and such directors as John Ford, Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock.

After starting his own film club in 1948, Truffaut met André Bazin, who would have great impact 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, 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 cinema.

Over the next few years, Truffaut became a critic (and later editor) at Cahiers. He was notorious for being brutal and unforgiving in his reviews, especially his take on French cinema of the day. He was called "The Gravedigger of French Cinema" and was even banned from the Cannes Film Festival in 1958. He developed 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 Tendency of the 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 The 400 Blows.

Truffaut was married to Madeleine Morgenstern from 1959 to 1965, and they had two daughters, Laura (born 1959) and Eva (born 1961). Truffaut and actress Fanny Ardant lived together from 1981 to 1984 and had a daughter, Joséphine Truffaut (born 28 September 1983).

In 1983, Truffaut was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He died on 21 October 1984. 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 Montmartre Cemetery, Paris.

Work

The 400 Blows 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 just an ordinary guy who auditioned for the role after seeing a flyer. 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, Francois 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 Francois.

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 Francois because of the memory of regret that he represented (Knopf 4). He was an outcast from his earliest years, dismissed as an unwanted child. Francois was sent to live with his grandparents. It wasn’t until Francois’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. Francois 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 Francois 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 Godard and 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). 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. 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) is a brutal tale of revenge, Mississippi Mermaid (1969) 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 first acting in a film.

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 an 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 an 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 Cesar 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 going divorces.

In the last movies, Léaud's partner was played by Truffaut's favorite actress Claude Jade as his girlfriend (and then wife), "Christine Darbon."

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 Awards.

Filmography

Director

Year Title Original title Notes
1955 Une Visite Une Visite
1957 Les Mistons
 Les Mistons
1958 Une Histoire d'eau Une Histoire d'eau Co-directed with Jean-Luc Godard
1959 The 400 Blows Les Quatre cents coups Antoine Doinel series
1960 Shoot the Piano Player Tirez sur le pianiste
1962 Jules and Jim Jules et Jim
1962 Antoine and Colette Antoine et Colette Antoine Doinel series, segment from Love at Twenty
1964 The Soft Skin La Peau douce
1966 Fahrenheit 451 n/a Filmed in English
1968 The Bride Wore Black La Mariée était en noir
1968 Stolen Kisses Baisers volés Antoine Doinel series
1969 Mississippi Mermaid La Sirène du Mississippi
1970 The Wild Child L'Enfant sauvage
1970 Bed and Board Domicile conjugal Antoine Doinel series
1971 Two English Girls Les Deux anglaises et le continent
1972 Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me Une belle fille comme moi
1973 Day for Night La Nuit américaine Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
1975 The Story of Adele H. L'Histoire d'Adèle H.
1976 Small Change L'Argent de poche
1977 The Man Who Loved Women L'Homme qui aimait les femmes
1978 The Green Room La Chambre verte
1979 Love on the Run L'Amour en fuite Antoine Doinel series
1980 The Last Metro Le Dernier métro
1981 The Woman Next Door La Femme d'à côté
1983 Confidentially Yours Vivement dimanche!

Screenwriter only

Year Title Original title Notes
1960 Breathless À bout de souffle Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
1988 The Little Thief La Petite voleuse Directed by Claude Miller
1995 Belle Époque Belle Époque Miniseries, with Jean Gruault; directed by Gavin Millar

Actor

Year Title Role Notes
1970 The Wild Child Dr. Jean Itard
1973 Day for Night (film) The film director
1978 The Green Room (film) Julien Davenne
1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind Claude Lacombe Directed by Steven Spielberg

Bibliography

See also

References

External links

The Films of François Truffaut
1950s
Une Visite • Les Mistons • Une Histoire d'eau • The 400 Blows
1960s
Shoot the Piano Player • Jules and Jim • Antoine and Colette • The Soft Skin • Fahrenheit 451 • The Bride Wore Black • Stolen Kisses • Mississippi Mermaid
1970s
The Wild Child • Bed and Board • Two English Girls • Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me • Day for Night • The Story of Adele H. • Small Change • The Man Who Loved Women • The Green Room • Love on the Run
1980s
The Last Metro • The Woman Next Door • Confidentially Yours
Screenplay only
L'Agence Magique • Breathless • The Little Thief • Belle Époque
Cinema of France
Actors · Directors · Cinematographers · Editors · Films A-Z · Producers · Score composers · Screenwriters
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Persondata
NAME Truffaut, François
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Truffaut, François Roland
SHORT DESCRIPTION French screenwriter, director, producer or actor
DATE OF BIRTH 6 February 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris, France
DATE OF DEATH 21 October 1984
PLACE OF DEATH Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France