Francois Truffaut

François Truffaut

1)Best know for The 400 Blows 1959 and Jules and Jim 1962
2)Directed countless other historically important films:
   Shoot the Piano Player (1960) and Day For Night (1973)

Mast & Kawin point: recurring themes in Truffaut’s films are education and art. His films are often about misfits or rebels stifled by conventional social definitions.

Actor Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud) is the several Truffaut films:
In the 400 Blows he is the little kid.

The 400 Blows "is unofficially the first film of the French New Wave and it had great success in 
both Europe and America. 
1)Antoine must endure a prison-like school system
2)In many ways is Truffaut's alter ego.
3)parallels T's own experiences as a young man.
4)Truffaut was never an overtly political filmmaker like Godard or Marker.
5)He is more of a detached observer like Max Ophuls

This scene from The 400 Blows:
1) Antoine is interrogated by a psychologist about his life in a series of monolgues
2)The camera focuses solely on Antoine
3)The scene is a combination of script and improvisation
4)Leaud speaks to the camera and audience simultaneously

The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959):

Video Clip

Here it is I found it Click Here

Jules and Jim (François Truffaut, 1962):
Video Clip

Jules and Jim
1)Tells the story of Catherine (Jeanne Moreau) who resembles a statue of a goddess
2)Her two lovers Jules (Oskar Werner) and Jim (Henri Serre)

This scene : 
1)Notice how Truffaut plays with form by isolating part of the frame to highlight Catherine and Jules
2)The scene employs a series of unconventional formal devices (zoom-ins etc.) to introduce
    Catherine.

Another Film clip i found from the NY Times with some commentary Click Here

This is a color film that Truffaut did later with Jean-Paul Belemundo from Godard's Breathless and Catherine Deneuve. She worked in a lot of New Wave films. I don't know the movie. 

A picture of Truffaut and Catherine Deneuve La Sirene de du Mississippi (1969)

Truffaut/Hitchcock Click Here

Narrative clip on The Bride Wore Black (1968) Click Here

Influenced by Hitchcock...satirical parody by Marnie? 
Hitchcock's musician and similar beautiful cinematography.
Ripped of by Tarantino to do Kill Bill? I think so - although he says he never saw it.