Film Review
Shortly after completing work on
Jules et Jim (1962),
director François Truffaut was commissioned by the producer Pierre
Roustang to contribute a short film segment to his anthology
L'Amour
à vingt ans. Four other internationally renowned directors -
Marcel Ophüls, Shintaro Ishihara, Andrzej Wajda and Renzo Rossellini -
were also invited to participate in the film, which was concerned with the theme of first love.
The film proved to be a commercial disaster and was withdrawn when it failed to have any
impact at the box office. Truffaut was himself unhappy with the film in its
entirety.
Whilst
L'Amour à vingt ans has fallen into obscurity,
Truffaut's contribution to the film,
Antoine
et Colette, has survived as a short film in its own right. The film is available
on DVD and is often screened at small cinemas and film clubs. The film's
survival and enduring popularity stems from its important placing in the Truffaut canon.
It represents Truffaut's first attempt to re-use the character Antoine Doinel, which he
created in his earlier, semi-autobiographical film,
Les 400 coups (1959)
and then resurrected for his comedy
Baisers volés (1968).
Jean-Pierre Léaud, Truffaut's friend and protégé, reprised the role of Doinel, now in his late
teens. His co-star is Marie-France Pisier, a talented actress who would become popular
and much sought after by film directors in subsequent years.
As in the earlier Doinel instalment,
Antoine et Colette is a closely
auto-biographical account of an incident
in Truffaut's own life, specifically one of his ill-fated love affairs when he was a young
man. It is a poignant yet light-hearted short film, in which Truffaut allowed
his actors to improvise to create a sense of spontaneity and realism. Truffaut re-used
much of this film in his final Doinel film,
L'Amour en fuite in 1979.
© James Travers 2001
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Next François Truffaut film:
Jules et Jim (1962)
Film Synopsis
Antoine Doinel is 17 years old and works in a factory that manufactures records.
In his leisure time, he listens to classical music and keeps up his friendship
with his boyhood chum René. Whilst attending a recital of music
by Berlioz he notices an attractive young girl of his own age, Colette, and
realises that he is in love for the first time. Colette has the kind
of supportive family that Antoine never had and it pleases him when they
take a liking to him and accept him as one of their household. Convinced
that he has found his one true love, Antoine takes a flat in the street across
from Colette, but it gradually dawns on him that she is less romantically
interested in him than he is in her. Colette's parents come to regard
Antoine as the ideal son-in-law, but their daughter has other ideas...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.