''Antoine and Colette'' (french: Antoine et Colette) is a 1962 French
short film
A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
written and directed by
François Truffaut. It is the second installment in Truffaut's five-film series about
Antoine Doinel
Antoine Doinel () is a fictional character created by François Truffaut and portrayed by actor Jean-Pierre Léaud in five films directed by Truffaut. Doinel is to a great extent an alter ego for Truffaut; they share many of the same childhood ex ...
, the character he follows from boyhood to adulthood. ''Antoine and Colette'' was made for the 1962 anthology collection ''
Love at Twenty'', which also featured shorts from the renowned directors
Shintarô Ishihara,
Marcel Ophüls
Marcel Ophuls (; born 1 November 1927) is a German-French documentary film maker and former actor, best known for his films ''The Sorrow and the Pity'' and '' Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie''.
Life and career
Ophuls was bo ...
,
Renzo Rossellini and
Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the ...
.
Antoine Doinel — and
Jean-Pierre Léaud
Jean-Pierre Léaud, ComM (; born 28 May 1944) is a French actor, known for playing Antoine Doinel in François Truffaut's series of films about that character, beginning with ''The 400 Blows'' (1959). He also worked several times with Jean-Luc ...
, the actor who played him in all five films — had made his screen debut in 1959 with Truffaut's first film, ''
The 400 Blows
''The 400 Blows'' (french: Les Quatre Cents Coups) is a 1959 French coming-of-age drama film, and the directorial debut of François Truffaut. The film, shot in DyaliScope, stars Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, and Claire Maurier. One of ...
''. Truffaut's tender, semi-autobiographical film about the young Antoine and his gradual descent into petty crime had introduced the world to the
French New Wave, a short-lived but highly influential outpouring of work from young filmmakers such as
Jean-Luc Godard,
Claude Chabrol and
Éric Rohmer
Jean Marie Maurice Schérer or Maurice Henri Joseph Schérer, known as Éric Rohmer (; 21 March 192011 January 2010), was a French film director, film critic, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and teacher.
Rohmer was the last of the post-World ...
.
Plot
''Antoine and Colette'' catches up with Antoine as a solitary 17-year-old who works at Philips manufacturing LPs to support himself. He lives in a furnished room by himself in Place Clichy,
Stafford, Jef
"Antoine and Colette"
Turner Classic Movies website. Retrieved on 2009-04-09. listening to opera and classical music and spending time with René (
Patrick Auffay), his school friend from ''
The 400 Blows
''The 400 Blows'' (french: Les Quatre Cents Coups) is a 1959 French coming-of-age drama film, and the directorial debut of François Truffaut. The film, shot in DyaliScope, stars Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, and Claire Maurier. One of ...
''.
One day, while attending a
Berlioz Music Programme
with René, he spots Colette (
Marie-France Pisier
Marie-France Pisier (10 May 194424 April 2011) was a French actress, screenwriter, and director. She appeared in numerous films of the French New Wave and twice earned the national César Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Early life
Pisier was ...
), a secondary school student, and falls in love for the first time.
Colette is his own age, but unlike Antoine has a warm, supportive family with whom she still lives. Antoine forms a strong friendship with Colette and, eventually, also her parents who begin to treat him as if he were a part of their family.
Colette's feelings for Antoine are at first ambiguous and, harbouring some hope that she might grow to return them, he leaves his apartment at the Place Clichy and moves into an apartment across the road from her family's. Although she continues to treat him kindly, it slowly becomes apparent that she is not interested in him romantically. He sulks about this and at first refuses to see her, but he is lured back by a dinner invitation. It is clear that her family still consider him a surrogate son and are possibly hoping for something romantic to happen between the two teenagers.
All of these hopes are dashed, however, when the pretty Colette is met at the front door by an older man. Her parents and Antoine look helplessly on as she disappears off with her date. They are all left to watch television.
Doinel's adventures follow with ''
Stolen Kisses
''Stolen Kisses'' (french: Baisers volés) is a 1968 French romantic comedy-drama film directed by François Truffaut, starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, Delphine Seyrig and Claude Jade. It continues the story of the character Antoine Doinel, whom Tr ...
'', ''
Bed and Board'' and ''
Love on the Run''.
Development
Truffaut had finished ''
Jules and Jim
''Jules and Jim'' (french: Jules et Jim ) is a 1962 French New Wave romantic drama film, directed, produced and written by François Truffaut. Set before and after World War I, it describes a tragic love triangle involving French Bohemian Jim ...
'' in 1962 when he was approached by film producer
Pierre Roustang
Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...
for his omnibus film project ''
Love at Twenty''. Truffaut was influential in helping to select
Shintarô Ishihara,
Marcel Ophüls
Marcel Ophuls (; born 1 November 1927) is a German-French documentary film maker and former actor, best known for his films ''The Sorrow and the Pity'' and '' Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie''.
Life and career
Ophuls was bo ...
,
Renzo Rossellini and
Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the ...
as the other directors who eventually participated in the project. In his book ''
Truffaut on Truffaut'', Truffaut later said "For my part, the French episode gave me the occasion to realize a project I hadn't dared to launch on my own, a short sequel to my first film, ''
The 400 Blows
''The 400 Blows'' (french: Les Quatre Cents Coups) is a 1959 French coming-of-age drama film, and the directorial debut of François Truffaut. The film, shot in DyaliScope, stars Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, and Claire Maurier. One of ...
'', in which we would meet up with the young Antoine Doinel three years later having his first sentimental adventure, one that would illustrate the moral: you risk losing everything by wanting too much."
''Antoine and Colette'' is a largely autobiographical work, based on 17-year-old Truffaut's infatuation with an unconventional beauty named Liliane Litvin.
[Jones, Kent. "Antoine and Colette"](_blank)
Criterion website. Retrieved on 2009-04-09. Truffaut met Litvin at the
Cinémathèque Française
The Cinémathèque Française (), founded in 1936, is a French non-profit film organization that holds one of the largest archives of film documents and film-related objects in the world. Based in Paris's 12th arrondissement, the archive offers ...
and quit his job as a welder and moved to Paris to be near her. Like Antoine, he took an apartment across the street from hers so that he could monitor her activities. However, she ultimately was not interested in him nor in any of his friends (she had attracted attention from
Jean Gruault
Jean Gruault (3 August 1924 – 8 June 2015) was a French screenwriter and actor. He wrote 25 films between 1960 and 1995. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the 1980 film '' Mon oncle ...
and
Jean-Luc Godard).
Cast and roles
*
Jean-Pierre Léaud
Jean-Pierre Léaud, ComM (; born 28 May 1944) is a French actor, known for playing Antoine Doinel in François Truffaut's series of films about that character, beginning with ''The 400 Blows'' (1959). He also worked several times with Jean-Luc ...
- Antoine Doinel
*
Marie-France Pisier
Marie-France Pisier (10 May 194424 April 2011) was a French actress, screenwriter, and director. She appeared in numerous films of the French New Wave and twice earned the national César Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Early life
Pisier was ...
- Colette
*
Patrick Auffay - René
*
Rosy Varte
Rosy Varte (22 November 1923 – 14 January 2012) was a French actress of Armenian descent. She made more than 100 film and television appearances during her career.
She starred in the 1972 film ''The Bar at the Crossing'', which was enter ...
- Colette's mother
* François Darbon - Colette's step father
*
Jean-François Adam - Albert Tazzi
*
Pierre Schaeffer
Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer (English pronunciation: , ; 14 August 1910 – 19 August 1995) was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist, acoustician and founder of Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète (GRMC). His inno ...
- Himself
[Allen, Don. ''Finally Truffaut''. New York: Beaufort Books. 1985. . . pp. 226.]
References
External links
*
*
TCM article on the filmCriterion Collection essay by Kent Jones
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antoine And Colette
1962 films
1960s coming-of-age films
French black-and-white films
Films set in Paris
1960s French-language films
French short films
Films directed by François Truffaut
Antoine Doinel
Films with screenplays by François Truffaut
French coming-of-age films
1960s French films