HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French filmmaker, actor, and critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the
French New Wave The New Wave (, ), also called the French New Wave, is a French European art cinema, art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentat ...
. He came under the tutelage of film critic Andre Bazin as a young man and was hired to write for Bazin's '' Cahiers du Cinéma'', where he became a proponent of the ''auteur'' theory, which posits that a film's director is its true author. '' The 400 Blows'' (1959), starring Jean-Pierre Léaud as Truffaut's alter-ego Antoine Doinel, was a defining film of the New Wave. Truffaut supplied the story for another milestone of the movement, ''Breathless'' (1960), directed by his ''Cahiers'' colleague
Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...
. His other notable films include '' Shoot the Piano Player'' (1960), '' Jules and Jim'' (1962), '' The Soft Skin'' (1964), '' Two English Girls'' (1971) and '' The Last Metro'' (1980). Truffaut's ''Day for Night'' (1973) earned him the
BAFTA Award for Best Film The BAFTA Award for Best Film is a film award given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and presented at the British Academy Film Awards. It has been given since the 1st BAFTA Awards, representing the best films of 19 ...
and the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...
. He played the doctor in ''
The Wild Child ''The Wild Child'' (, released in the United Kingdom as ''The Wild Boy'') is a 1970 French film by director François Truffaut. Featuring Jean-Pierre Cargol, François Truffaut, Françoise Seigner and Jean Dasté, it tells the story of a chil ...
'' (1970), the director of the film-within-the-film in ''Day For Night'' and the scientist in
Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...
's '' Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' (1977). He starred in ''The Green Room'' (1978), based on
Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
's " The Altar of the Dead". He wrote '' Hitchcock/Truffaut'' (1966), a book-length interview with his hero
Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 â€“ 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...
which tied for second on '' Sight and Sound''s list of the greatest books on film. Truffaut paid homage to Hitchcock in '' The Bride Wore Black'' (1968), '' Mississippi Mermaid'' (1969) and his last film, '' Confidentially Yours'' (1981). He was married from 1957 until 1964 to Madeleine Morgenstern, in 1968 became engaged to leading actress Claude Jade from three of his films, and lived together with Fanny Ardant, actress in his two last films, until his death. David Thomson writes that "for many people who love film Truffaut will always seem like the most accessible and engaging crest of the New Wave."


Early life

Truffaut was born in Paris on 6 February 1932. His mother was Janine de Montferrand. 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. His grandmother instilled in him her love of books and music. He lived with her until her death, when Truffaut was eight years old. It was only after her death that he lived with his parents. Truffaut's biological father's identity is unknown, but a private detective agency in 1968 revealed that its inquiry into the matter led to a Roland Levy, a Jewish dentist from
Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...
. Truffaut's mother's family disputed the finding but Truffaut believed and embraced it. Truffaut often stayed with friends and tried to be out of the house as much as possible. He knew Robert Lachenay from childhood, and they were lifelong best friends. Lachenay was the inspiration for the character René Bigey in '' The 400 Blows'' and worked as an assistant on some of Truffaut's films. Cinema offered Truffaut the greatest escape from an unsatisfying home life. He was eight years old when he saw his first movie,
Abel Gance Abel Gance (; born Abel Eugène Alexandre Péréthon; 25 October 188910 November 1981) was a French film director, producer, writer and actor. A pioneer in the theory and practice of montage, he is best known for three major silent films: ''J'ac ...
's ''Paradis Perdu'' (''Paradise Lost'', 1939), beginning his obsession. He frequently skipped school and sneaked into theaters because he lacked the money for admission. At age eleven, he read
Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...
's '' Thérèse Raquin'' (1868), which inspired him to become a novelist. After being expelled from several schools, at age 14 he decided to become self-taught. Two of his academic goals were to watch three movies a day and read three books a week. "What switched me to films was the flood of American pictures into Paris after the Liberation". Truffaut frequented Henri Langlois's
Cinémathèque Française A cinematheque is an archive of films and film-related objects with an exhibition venue. Similarly to a book library (bibliothèque in French), a cinematheque is responsible for preserving and making available to the public film heritage. Typically ...
, where he was exposed to countless foreign films, becoming familiar with American cinema and directors such as
John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), better known as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and w ...
,
Howard Hawks Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter of the Classical Hollywood cinema, classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American ...
and Nicholas Ray, as well as British director
Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 â€“ 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...
.


Career


André Bazin

After starting his own film club in 1948, Truffaut met
André Bazin André Bazin (; 18 April 1918 – 11 November 1958) was a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist. He started to write about movies in 1943 and was a co-founder of the renowned film magazine '' Cahiers du cinéma'' in 1951 ...
, who had a 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 The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...
in 1950, aged 18, but spent the next two years trying to escape. He was arrested for attempting to desert the army and incarcerated in military prison. Bazin used his political contacts to get Truffaut released and set him up with a job at his new film magazine, '' Cahiers du Cinéma''.


''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 1958
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...
. He supported Bazin in developing one of the most influential theories of cinema, the auteur theory. In 1954, Truffaut wrote an article in ''Cahiers du cinéma'', "Une Certaine Tendance du Cinéma Français" ("A Certain Trend of French Cinema"), in which he attacked the state of French films, lambasting certain screenwriters and producers, and listing eight directors he considered incapable of devising the kinds of "vile" and "grotesque" characters and storylines he called characteristic of the mainstream French film industry:
Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. His '' La Grande Illusion'' (1937) and '' The Rules of the Game'' (1939) are often cited by critics as among the greate ...
,
Robert Bresson Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director. Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson made a notable contribution to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, Ellipsis (narrative device), ellipses, an ...
,
Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...
,
Jacques Becker Jacques Becker (; 15 September 1906 – 21 February 1960) was a French film director and screenwriter. His films, made during the 1940s and 1950s, encompassed a wide variety of genres, and they were admired by some of the filmmakers who led th ...
,
Abel Gance Abel Gance (; born Abel Eugène Alexandre Péréthon; 25 October 188910 November 1981) was a French film director, producer, writer and actor. A pioneer in the theory and practice of montage, he is best known for three major silent films: ''J'ac ...
, Max Ophuls,
Jacques Tati Jacques Tati (; born Jacques Tatischeff, ; 9 October 1907 – 5 November 1982) was a French mime, filmmaker, actor and screenwriter. In an ''Entertainment Weekly'' poll of the Greatest Movie Directors, he was voted 46th (a list of the top 50 was ...
and
Roger Leenhardt Roger Leenhardt (23 July 1903 – 4 December 1985) was a French writer and filmmaker. Early life Born in a bourgeois Protestant family, this brilliant student of philosophy was very soon fascinated by cinema. Through a cousin, he started worki ...
. The article caused a storm of controversy and landed Truffaut an offer to write for the nationally circulated, more widely read cultural weekly ''Arts-Lettres-Spectacles''. Truffaut wrote more than 500 film articles for that publication over the next four years. Truffaut later devised the auteur theory, according to which the director was the "author" of his work and great directors such as Renoir or Hitchcock have distinct styles and themes that permeate their films. Although his theory was not widely accepted then, it gained some support in the 1960s from American critic
Andrew Sarris Andrew Sarris (October 31, 1928 – June 20, 2012) was an American film critic. He was a leading proponent of the auteur theory of film criticism. Early life Sarris was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Greek immigrant parents, Themis (née Kat ...
. In 1966, Truffaut published his book-length interview with Hitchcock, '' Hitchcock/Truffaut''.


Short films

After having been a critic, Truffaut decided to make films. He began with the short film '' Une Visite'' (1955) and followed it with '' Les Mistons'' (1957).


''The 400 Blows''

After seeing
Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 â€“ October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...
's ''
Touch of Evil ''Touch of Evil'' is a 1958 American film noir written and directed by Orson Welles, who also stars. The screenplay was loosely based on Whit Masterson's novel '' Badge of Evil'' (1956). The cast included Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Jose ...
'' at the
Expo 58 Expo 58, also known as the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (; ), was a world's fair held on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Brussels, Belgium, from 17 April to 19 October 1958. It was the first major world's fair registered under the Bureau Internati ...
, Truffaut made his directorial debut with '' The 400 Blows'' (1959), which received considerable critical and commercial acclaim. He won the Best Director award at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival. The film follows the character of Antoine Doinel through his perilous misadventures in school, an unhappy home life and later reform school. It 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 Doinel. Léaud was seen as an ordinary boy of 14 who auditioned for the role after seeing a flyer, but interviews 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 Doinel's story in a series of films called "The Antoine Doinel Cycle". The primary focus of ''The 400 Blows'' is Doinel's life. The film follows him through his troubled adolescence. He is caught in between an unstable parental relationship and an isolated youth. From birth Truffaut was thrown into a troublesome situation. As he was born out of wedlock, his birth had to remain a secret because of the stigma of illegitimacy. He was registered as "a child born to an unknown father" in hospital records and looked after by a nurse for an extended period of time. His mother eventually married and her husband gave François his surname, Truffaut. ''The 400 Blows'' marked the beginning of the
French New Wave The New Wave (, ), also called the French New Wave, is a French European art cinema, art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentat ...
movement, led by such directors as
Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...
,
Claude Chabrol Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues an ...
and
Jacques Rivette Jacques Rivette (; 1 March 1928 – 29 January 2016) was a French film director and film critic most commonly associated with the French New Wave and the film magazine '' Cahiers du Cinéma''. He made twenty-nine films, including '' L'Amour fo ...
. The New Wave dealt with a self-conscious rejection of traditional cinema structure, a topic on which Truffaut had been writing for years. Thomson writes that ''The 400 Blows'' "securely tied the new films to Renoir, Vigo, and the French tradition of location shooting, flowing camera, and offhand lyricism." ''Time'' included it on its list of the one hundred greatest films since the magazine's founding, with Richard Schickel writing: "Partly autobiographical, both realistic and gently experimental in manner, it tells the story of a mischievous boy flirting with full-scale delinquency. TIME thought the director 'impressively objective and mature.' It did not mention his uncanny ability to achieve cinematic elegance on a shoestring. Or, more important, his ability to enlist sympathy for his protagonist without unduly sentimentalizing him." Truffaut provided the premise for another landmark New Wave film, Godard's ''Breathless'' (1960).


''Shoot the Piano Player''

Following the success of ''The 400 Blows'', Truffaut featured disjunctive editing and seemingly random voiceovers in his next film, '' Shoot the Piano Player'' (1960), starring Charles Aznavour. Truffaut has said 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 to his liking. While ''Shoot the Piano Player'' was much appreciated by critics, it performed poorly at the box office. Truffaut never again experimented as heavily. Referring to the film's digressions, Thomson calls it "the kind of film Laurence Sterne might have made".


''Jules and Jim'' and ''The Soft Skin''

Truffaut directed '' Jules and Jim'' (1962), the story of a
ménage à trois A () is a domestic arrangement or committed relationship consisting of three people in polyamorous romantic or sexual relations with each other, and often dwelling together. The phrase is a loan from French meaning "household of three". ...
starring Oskar Werner, Henri Serre and
Jeanne Moreau Jeanne Moreau (; 23 January 1928 – 31 July 2017) was a French actress, singer, screenwriter, director, and socialite. She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française. Mo ...
.
Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 â€“ September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...
defended the film against charges of immorality: "''Jules and Jim'' is not only one of the most beautiful films ever made, and the greatest motion picture of recent years, it is also, viewed as a work of art, exquisitely and impeccably ''moral''. Truffaut does not use the screen for messages or special pleading or to sell sex for money; he uses the film medium to express his love and knowledge of life as completely as he can." Thomson writes that "The speed of farce chasing pathos was very influential, not least on the writers of ''Bonnie and Clyde''. In ''Jules et Jim'', Truffaut formed his most fruitful collaboration, with the novelist Henri-Pierre Roché, author of ''Les Deux Anglaises'' and of a situation dear to Truffaut—the passionate triangle in which three people are trapped, all in love with all, all reluctant to hurt the others." In 1963, Truffaut was approached to direct ''Bonnie and Clyde'', with a treatment written by ''Esquire'' journalists David Newman and Robert Benton intended to introduce the French New Wave to Hollywood. Although he was interested enough to help in script development, Truffaut ultimately declined, but not before interesting Godard and American actor and would-be producer
Warren Beatty Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. His career has spanned over six decades, and he has received an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards. He also received the Irving G. Thalberg Memor ...
, who proceeded with the film with director
Arthur Penn Arthur Hiller Penn (September 27, 1922 – September 28, 2010) was an American filmmaker, theatre director, and producer. He was a three-time Academy Award nominee for Academy Award for Best Director, Best Director, and a Tony Awards, Tony Awa ...
. Truffaut's fourth film, '' The Soft Skin'' (1964), was not acclaimed on its release.


''Fahrenheit 451''

Truffaut's first non-French film was a 1966
adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...
of
Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...
's classic science fiction novel ''
Fahrenheit 451 ''Fahrenheit 451'' is a 1953 Dystopian fiction, dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury. It presents a future American society where books have been outlawed and "firemen" Book burning, burn any that are found. The novel follows in the ...
'', showcasing Truffaut's love of books. His only English-speaking film, made on location in England, was a great challenge for Truffaut, because he barely spoke English himself. Shot by cinematographer
Nicolas Roeg Nicolas Jack Roeg ( ; 15 August 1928 – 23 November 2018) was an English film director and cinematographer, best known for directing ''Performance (film), Performance'' (1970), ''Walkabout (film), Walkabout'' (1971), ''Don't Look Now'' (1973) ...
, it was Truffaut's first film in colour. The larger-scale production was difficult for Truffaut, who had worked only with small crews and budgets. The shoot was also strained by a conflict with Oskar Werner, who was unhappy with his character and stormed off set, leaving Truffaut to shoot scenes using a body double shot from behind. The film was a commercial failure, and Truffaut never worked outside France again. The film's cult standing has steadily grown, although some critics remain dubious of it as an adaptation. A 2014 consideration of the film by Charles Silver praises it.


Thrillers and ''Stolen Kisses''

'' Stolen Kisses'' (1968) was a continuation of the Antoine Doinel Cycle starring Claude Jade as Antoine's fiancée and later wife Christine Darbon. During its filming Truffaut fell in love with Jade and was briefly engaged to her. It was a big hit on the international art circuit. A short time later, Jade made her Hollywood debut in Hitchcock's ''Topaz''.Tino Balio, ''United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry'', University of Wisconsin Press, 1987 p. 282 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 Hitchcock, once again starring Moreau. '' Mississippi Mermaid'' (1969), with Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Paul Belmondo, is an identity-bending romantic thriller. Both films are based on novels by
Cornell Woolrich Cornell George Hopley Woolrich ( ; December 4, 1903 – September 25, 1968) was an American novelist and short story writer. He sometimes used the pseudonyms William Irish and George Hopley. His biographer, Francis Nevins Jr., rated Woolrich the ...
. ''
The Wild Child ''The Wild Child'' (, released in the United Kingdom as ''The Wild Boy'') is a 1970 French film by director François Truffaut. Featuring Jean-Pierre Cargol, François Truffaut, Françoise Seigner and Jean Dasté, it tells the story of a chil ...
'' (1970) included Truffaut's acting debut in the lead role of 18th-century physician Jean Marc Gaspard Itard, who treated the feral child Victor of Aveyron.


Doinel marries Christine

'' Bed and Board'' (1970) was another Antoine Doinel film, also with Jade, now Léaud's on-screen-wife. '' Two English Girls'' (1971), a story of "
Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French language, French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Pas ...
and the Brontë sisters" is the female reflection of the love story in "Jules et Jim". It is based on a story by Roché, who wrote ''Jules and Jim'', about a man who falls equally in love with two sisters, and their love affair over a period of years. '' Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me'' (1972) was a
screwball comedy Screwball comedy is a film subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1950s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary charact ...
.


''Day for Night''

''Day for Night'' won Truffaut an
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...
. It is probably his most reflective work, telling the story of a film crew trying to finish a film while dealing with the personal and professional problems that accompany making a movie. Truffaut plays the director of the film-within-the film, ''Meet Pamela''. ''Day For Night'' features scenes from his previous films. It is considered his best film since his early work. Thomson notes "the pleasure with all cinema's tricks and the way it makes them clear to a lay audience." ''Time'' magazine placed it on its list of 100 Best Films of the Century, with Schickel writing: "Truffaut perfectly captures the romance and hysteria, the guiding obsessions, the lunatic distractions and the desperate improvisations of a company shooting a film, which may not be as great as they delude themselves into thinking it is." In 1975, Truffaut gained more notoriety with '' The Story of Adèle H.'';
Isabelle Adjani Isabelle Yasmine Adjani (born 27 June 1955) is a French actress and singer of Algerian and German descent. She has received various accolades, including five César Awards and a Lumière Award, along with nominations for two Academy Awards. ...
in the title role earned a nomination for an
Academy Award for Best Actress The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 1st Academy Awards to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a lead ...
. '' Small Change'' (1976) was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.


Final films

'' The Man Who Loved Women'' (1977), a romantic drama, was a minor hit. Truffaut appeared in
Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...
's '' Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' (1977) as scientist Claude Lacombe. He also starred in his own ''The Green Room'' (1978), based on
Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
's " The Altar of the Dead". It was a box-office flop, so he made '' Love on the Run'' (1979) starring Léaud and Jade as the final movie of the Doinel Cycle. One of Truffaut's final films gave him an international revival. '' The Last Metro'' (1980) garnered 12
César Award Cesar or César may refer to: Arts and entertainment * César (film), ''César'' (film), a 1936 French romantic drama * César (film), ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt Places * Cesar, Portugal * Cesar Department, Colombia * Cesar R ...
nominations and 10 wins, including Best Director. Truffaut's last film was shot in black and white, making it a bookend to his first. '' Confidentially Yours'' (1981) is Truffaut's homage to Hitchcock. It deals with numerous Hitchcockian themes, such as private guilt versus public innocence, a woman investigating a murder and anonymous locations.


Legacy

Many filmmakers admire Truffaut, and homages to his work have appeared in films such as '' Almost Famous'', ''
Face The face is the front of the head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affect th ...
'' and ''The Diving Bell and the Butterfly'' and in
Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for hi ...
's novel '' Kafka on the Shore''. In conversation with
Michael Ondaatje Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer and essayist. Ondaatje's literary career began with his poetry in 1967, publishing ''The Dainty Monsters'', and then in 1970 the critically a ...
, film editor
Walter Murch Walter Scott Murch (born July 12, 1943) is an American film editor, director, writer and sound designer. His work includes '' THX 1138'', ''Apocalypse Now'', '' The Godfather I'', '' II'', and '' III'', '' American Graffiti'', '' The Conversation ...
mentions the influence Truffaut had on him as a young man, saying he was "electrified" by the freeze-frame at the end of '' The 400 Blows'', and that Godard's ''Breathless'' and Truffaut's '' Shoot the Piano Player'' reinforced the idea that he could make films. Known as a lifelong cinephile, Truffaut once (according to the 1993 documentary film '' François Truffaut: Stolen Portraits'') threw a hitchhiker out of his car after learning that he did not like films.
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
included ''The 400 Blows'' in his canon of Great Movies, writing of Truffaut:
one of his most curious, haunting films is '' The Green Room'' (1978), based on the
Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
story " The Altar of the Dead", about a man and a woman who share a passion for remembering their dead loved ones.
Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for '' The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has contributed to ...
, who thinks ''The Green Room'' may be Truffaut's best film, told me he thinks of it as the director's homage to the auteur theory. That theory, created by Bazin and his disciples (Truffaut, Godard, Resnais, Chabrol, Rohmer, Malle), declared that the director was the true author of a film—not the studio, the screenwriter, the star, the genre. If the figures in the green room stand for the great directors of the past, perhaps there is a shrine there now to Truffaut. One likes to think of the ghost of Antoine Doinel lighting a candle before it.


Commentary on other filmmakers

Truffaut expressed his admiration for filmmakers such as
Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...
,
Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 â€“ 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...
,
Robert Bresson Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director. Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson made a notable contribution to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, Ellipsis (narrative device), ellipses, an ...
,
Roberto Rossellini Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such a ...
and
Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 â€“ 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...
. He wrote '' Hitchcock/Truffaut'', a book about Hitchcock, based on a lengthy series of interviews. Of
Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. His '' La Grande Illusion'' (1937) and '' The Rules of the Game'' (1939) are often cited by critics as among the greate ...
, he said: "I think Renoir is the only filmmaker who's practically infallible, who has never made a mistake on film. And I think if he never made mistakes, it's because he always found solutions based on simplicity—human solutions. He's one film director who never pretended. He never tried to have a style, and if you know his work—which is very comprehensive, since he dealt with all sorts of subjects—when you get stuck, especially as a young filmmaker, you can think of how Renoir would have handled the situation, and you generally find a solution". Truffaut named his production company "Les Films du Carrosse" after Renoir's '' The Golden Coach'' (La Carrosse d'Or). Truffaut called German filmmaker
Werner Herzog Werner Herzog (; né Stipetić; born 5 September 1942) is a German filmmaker, actor, opera director, and author. Regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema, his films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unusu ...
"the most important film director alive." Truffaut and
Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...
, his colleague from ''Les Cahiers du Cinéma'', worked together closely during their start as film directors although they had different working methods. Tensions came to the surface after
May 68 May 68 () was a period of widespread protests, strikes, and civil unrest in France that began in May 1968 and became one of the most significant social uprisings in modern European history. Initially sparked by student demonstrations agains ...
: Godard wanted a more political, specifically Marxist cinema, Truffaut was critical of creating films for primarily political purposes. In 1973, Godard wrote Truffaut a lengthy and raucous private letter peppered with accusations and insinuations, several times stating that as a filmmaker "you're a liar" and that his latest film (''Day for Night'') had been unsatisfying, lying and evasive: "You're a liar, because the scene between you and
Jacqueline Bisset Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset ( ; born 13 September 1944) is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in ''The Detective (1968 film), The Detective'', ''Bullitt'', and ''The Sweet ...
last week at ''Francis'' Paris restaurantisn't included in your movie, and one also can't help wondering why the director is the only guy who isn't sleeping around in ''Day for Night''" (Truffaut directed the film, wrote it and played the role of the director). Godard also implied that Truffaut had gone commercial and easy. Truffaut replied with an angry 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 Ursula Andress of militancy—like Brando—a piece of shit on a pedestal." Godard later tried to reconcile with Truffaut, but they never spoke to or saw each other again. After Truffaut's death, Godard wrote the introduction to a generous selection of his correspondence, and included his own 1973 letter. He also offered a long tribute in his film '' Histoire(s) du cinéma''. Truffaut was philosophically opposed to attempts to portray
anti-war An anti-war movement is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conf ...
themes through cinema, famously stating that " there is no such thing as an anti-war film" due to the medium's inherent glorification of such subjects, no matter how they are portrayed.Brooks, Tom
"Is there any such thing as an 'anti-war film'?"
''BBC'', 9 July 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2025.


Personal life

Truffaut was married to Madeleine Morgenstern from 1957 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, Cocinor, and was largely responsible for securing funding for Truffaut's first films. In 1968, Truffaut was engaged to actress Claude Jade ('' Stolen Kisses'', '' Bed and Board'', ''Love on the Run''); he and Fanny Ardant ('' The Woman Next Door'', '' Confidentially Yours'') lived together from 1981 to 1984 and had a daughter, Joséphine Truffaut (born 28 September 1983). Truffaut was an
atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, but had great respect for the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
and requested a Requiem Mass for his funeral.


Death

In July 1983, following his first stroke and being diagnosed with a brain tumour, Truffaut rented France Gall's and
Michel Berger Michel Jean Hamburger (28 November 1947 – 2 August 1992), known professionally as Michel Berger, was a French singer and songwriter. He was a figure of France's pop music scene for two decades as a singer. As a songwriter he wrote for artists ...
's house outside Honfleur, Normandy. He was expected to attend his friend
Miloš Forman Jan Tomáš "Miloš" Forman (; ; 18 February 1932 – 13 April 2018) was a Czech Americans, Czech-American film film director, director, screenwriter, actor, and professor who rose to fame in his native Czechoslovakia before emigrating to the Uni ...
's '' Amadeus'' premiere when he died on 21 October 1984, aged 52, at the American Hospital of Paris in
Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the ...
in France. At the time of his death, he was said to have numerous further films in preparation. He is buried in
Montmartre Cemetery The Cemetery of Montmartre () is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis in Paris, after the Père Lachaise Cemet ...
.


Filmography


Short film


Feature film


TV writer (Posthumous releases)


Acting roles


Awards and nominations

Academy Awards BAFTA Awards Berlin International Film Festival Cannes Film Festival César Awards Mar del Plata International Film Festival Venice International Film Festival


Bibliography

* ''Les 400 Coups'' (1960) with M. Moussy (English translation: ''The 400 Blows'') * ''Le Cinéma selon Alfred Hitchcock'' (1967, second edition 1983) (English translation: ''Hitchcock'' and '' Hitchcock/Truffaut'' with the collaboration of Helen G. Scott) * ''Les Aventures d'Antoine Doinel'' (1970) (English translation: ''Adventures of Antoine Doinel''; translated by Helen G. Scott) * ''Jules et Jim'' (film script) (1971) (English translation: ''Jules and Jim''; translated by Nicholas Fry) * ''La Nuit américaine et le Journal de Fahrenheit 451'' (1974) * ''Le Plaisir des yeux'' (1975) * ''L'Argent de poche'' (1976) (English title: ''Small Change: A Film Novel''; translated by Anselm Hollo) * ''L'Homme qui aimait les femmes'' (1977) * ''Les Films de ma vie'' (1981) (English translation: ''The Films in My Life'', translated by Leonard Mayhew) * ' (1988) (English translation: ''Correspondence, 1945–1984''; translated by Gilbert Adair, released posthumously) * ''Le Cinéma selon François Truffaut'' (1988) edited by Anne Gillain (released posthumously) * ''Belle époque'' (1996) with Jean Gruault (released posthumously)


See also

* François Truffaut Award * '' Paris Belongs to Us'' * '' Two in the Wave'', a 2010 documentary film about Truffaut's relationship with
Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...
* La Cinémathèque Française will offer a full retrospective and an exhibition of François Truffaut's work in 2014 / 2015


References


External links

*
''New Wave Film Encyclopedia'': "François Truffaut"
an extensive biography
''François Truffaut complete biography'': "François Truffaut"


via the UC Berkeley Media Resources Center
Francois Truffaut
at ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
Film''
Francois Truffaut
at ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
Movies'' *
Legendary interview with Truffaut from 1970

AllMovie.com Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Truffaut, Francois 1932 births 1984 deaths 20th-century French historians 20th-century French male actors 20th-century French screenwriters Best Director BAFTA Award winners Best Director César Award winners Burials at Montmartre Cemetery Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director winners Counterculture of the 1950s Counterculture of the 1960s Counterculture of the 1970s Deaths from brain cancer in France Directors of Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners Film theorists French Army soldiers French atheists French film critics French film directors French film historians French film producers French male film actors French male screenwriters Male actors from Paris Military personnel from Paris