Happy Birthday: François Truffaut (1932–1984)

François Truffaut (1932–1984)

Born: February 6, 1932 in Paris, France
Died: October 21, 1984 (age 52) in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France

One looks at films differently when one is a director or a critic. For example, though I have always loved Citizen Kane (1941), I loved it in different ways at different stages of my career. When I saw it as a critic, I particularly admired the way the story is told: the fact that one is rarely permitted to see the person who interviews all the characters, the fact that chronology is not respected, things like that. As a director I cared more about technique: all the scenes are shot in a single take and do not use reverse cutting; in most scenes you hear the soundtrack before you see the corresponding images – that reflects Orson Welles’ radio training, etc. Behaving like the ordinary spectator, one uses a film as if it were a drug; he is dazed by the motion and doesn’t try to analyze. A critic, on the other hand, is forced to write summaries of films in 15 lines. That forces one to apprehend the structure of a film and to rationalize his liking for it.

Jules and Jim 1962 dir. Truffaut Starring Jeanne Moreau Oskar Werner

THE 400 BLOWS 1959 dir. Francois Truffaut Stars: Jean-Pierre L�aud Albert R�my

Day for Night 1973 dir. Truffaut Starring Jacqueline Bisset Valentina Cortese

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