François Truffaut was and still is one of France's, and probably the world's, best loved film directors. He's one of the key entities responsible for the Nouvelle Vague phenomenon, which helped shape modern cinema as we know it. Not everyone starts their career with a film like Les Quatre Cents Coups. Antoine Doinel, the central character of the film, was so well written that audiences had the pleasure of seeing him grow up over two decades in different films also directed by Truffaut, and always played by the same actor (Jean-Pierre Léaud). I think this character was well written and recurrent because of the similarities Doinel shared with Truffaut himself. They shared a similar upbringing, a similar way of living and an avid love for women. To me Jules et Jim is one of the films that changed cinema forever. It's simplicity and straight to the point narrative opened up a world of possibilities within the art form and also unveiled what "new cinema audiences" were willing to sit through.
Recently I visited Montmartre Cemetery in Paris where he's buried. His remains inhabit a respectful looking marble grave and there were fresh flowers around it. He died prematurely at the age of 52 from a brain tumor, and still with many projects to be completed. One project he managed to finish, besides the numerous cinema masterpieces he left behind, was a book on Alfred Hitchcock. Truffaut was a Hitchcock groupie and during a period spanning many years he interviewed Hitchcock at different periods in both their careers. They talked for endless hours about Hitchcock's life, work and techniques. Eventually, thanks to Truffaut's persistence, a book based on these conversations was compiled and published (pictured below). It's a fantastic read for anyone who's interested in film, and it's something you can read in the same way it was made, season through season. But still the climax of Truffaut's Hitchcock groupiness was a film he made using the Hitchcockian mold called Fahrenheit 451.
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