Truffaut, François

(February 6, 1932, Paris, France - October 21, 1984, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France)

   The son of a Jewish dentist father whom he never met and a secretary mother, he was accepted as an adopted son by his stepfather, Roland Truffaut, who gave him his name. Raised mainly by his grandmother until her death in 1942, he had a chaotic childhood and spent some time in a reformatory after dropping out of school at age fourteen. In 1948, he created his own cine-club. His love for movies and the precious advice of his spiritual father, film critic and theoretician André Bazin, led him to journalism. In 1950, he pub­lished his first criticism in Elle, Le Bulletin du Ciné-Club, and La Gazette du Cinéma (managed by Eric Rohmer) before collaborating on Arts and Les Cahiers du Cinéma (1953). A great denigrator of French academic cinema (the New Wave directors called it the French Quality cinema), he was one of the most severe and detested critics of his generation. He directed his first short, Une Visite (edited by Alain Resnais), in 1955. Author of the original story of A Bout de Souffle / UK: By a Tether / UK and USA: Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard), he col­laborated as a screenwriter on several movies (1958 Les Surmenés, short, as co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze; 1960 Me faire ça à moi / USA: It Means That Much to Me, as uncredited co-screenwriter, Pierre Grimblat; 1964 Mata-Hari / Mata-Hari, agente segreto H 21, as co-screenwriter, co-adapter, dialogist, also co-producer, Jean-Louis Richard, France / Italy). In 1957, he created his production company, Les Films du Carosse (a tribute to Jean Renoir), and besides his own movies, he produced or co-produced a handful of films (1958 Anna la Bonne, short, Claude Jutra, Belgium; 1960 Paris nous appartient / UK: Paris Is Ours / USA: Paris Belongs to Us, Jacques Rivette, shot in 1958; Le Testament d'Orphée ou Ne me demandez pas pourquoi / Le Testament d'Orphée / USA: The Testament of Orpheus, as assistant producer, Jean Cocteau; 1961 Le Scarabée d'Or, short, Robert Lachenay; 1967 Deux ou Trois Choses que je sais d'elle / UK and USA: Two or Three Things I Know About Her, Jean-Luc Godard; 1968 L'Enfance nue / UK: Me / USA: Naked Childhood, Maurice Pialat; 1970 La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret / UK: The Sin of Father Mouret / USA: The Demise of Father Mouret, Georges Franju; 1976 Les Lolos de Lola, Bernard Dubois; 1987 Yeleen / La Lumière / Das Licht / Brightness, Sou-leymane Cissé, France / West Germany / Burkina Faso / Mali). An actor in several of his films, he also played in Le Coup du Berger / USA: Fool's Mate (short, Jacques Rivette, 1956) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, USA). In 1983, Blake Edwards shot a US version of L'Homme qui aimait les Femmes (The Man Who Loved Women). After his death, Claude Miller (1988 La Petite Voleuse / USA: The Little Thief) and Gavin Millar (1995 Belle Epoque, TV miniseries) adapted two of his unfilmed screenplays. In 1962, he interviewed Alfred Hitchcock during the shooting of The Birds. A book (the "Hitchbook" Le Cinéma selon Hitchcock, Rob­ert Laffont, 1966, then Gallimard, 1983, English transla­tion first published by Simon and Schuster in 1967) was born from their meeting. He also gathered some of his criticism and texts on cinema in Les Films de ma Vie (Flammarion, 1975). From 1965 (Cinéastes de notre Temps, episode "François Truffaut ou l'Esprit critique", Jean-Pierre Chartier) to 2004 (François Truffaut, une Au­tobiographie, TV, Anne Andreu), several documentaries were dedicated to his work (1970 Cinéastes de notre Temps: François Truffaut: Dix Ans, Dix Films; 2003 François Truffaut: Portraits volés / UK and USA: François Truffaut: Stolen Portraits, Michel Pascal, Serge Toubiana).

 Filmography

1955 ◘ Une Visite (short)

1958 ◘ Les Mistons / UK: The Brats / USA: The Kids (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist)

1959 ◘ Les Quatre Cents Coups / UK and USA: The Four Hundred Blows / USA: The 400 Blows (also screenwriter, dialogist, producer)

        ◘ Tirez sur le Pianiste / UK: Shoot the Pianist / UK and USA: Shoot the Piano Player (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, dialogist)

        ◘ Tire-au-Flanc 62 / UK: The Sad Sack / USA:

        ◘ The Army Game (co-director with Claude de Givray; also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist)

        ◘ Une Histoire d'Eau / UK and USA: A Story of Water (short; co-director with Jean-Luc Godard; shot in 1958)

1962 ◘ Jules et Jim / UK and USA: Jules and Jim (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, producer)

        ◘ L'Amour à Vingt Ans / L'amore a vent'anni / Liebe mit Zwanzig / Milosc dwudziestolatkow / Hatachi no koi (segment "Antoine et Colette"; also screenwriter; France / Italy / West Germany / Poland / Japan)

1964 ◘ La Peau douce / Angustia / USA: The Soft Skin (also co-screenwriter, dialogist, producer; France / Portugal)

1966 ◘ Farenheit 451 (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist; UK)

1968 ◘ La Mariée était en noir / La sposa in nero / UK and USA: The Bride Wore Black (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, producer; France / Italy)

        ◘ Baisers volés / USA: Stolen Kisses (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, producer; France / Italy)

1969 ◘ La Sirène du Mississippi / La mia droga si chiama Julie / USA: Mississippi Mermaid (also screen-writer, adapter, dialogist, producer; France / Italy)

1970 ◘ L'Enfant sauvage / UK: The Wild Boy / USA: The Wild Child (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, producer, actor)

        ◘ Domicile conjugal / Non drammatizziamo . . . è solo questione di corna! / UK: Bed and Board / Canada and USA: Bed & Board (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, producer; France / Italy)

        ◘ Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent / Les Deux Anglaises / UK: Anne and Muriel / Canada and USA: Two English Girls (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, producer)

        ◘ Une Belle Fille comme moi / UK: A Gorgeous Bird Like Me / USA: Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, producer)

        ◘ La Nuit américaine / Effetto notte / USA: Day for Night (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, producer, actor; France / Italy)

        ◘ L'Histoire d'Adèle H / USA: The Story of Adele H (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, producer)

        ◘ L'Argent de Poche / USA: Small Change (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, producer)

        ◘ L'Homme qui aimait les Femmes / USA: The Man Who Loved Women (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, producer)

        ◘ La Chambre verte / USA: The Green Room / The Vanishing Fiancée (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, producer, actor)

        ◘ L'Amour en Fuite / Canada and USA: Love on the Run (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, producer)

        ◘ Le Dernier Métro / UK and USA: The Last Metro (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, producer)

        ◘ La Femme d'à Côté / UK and USA: The Woman Next Door (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, producer)

1983 ◘ Vivement Dimanche! / UK: Finally, Sunday / USA: Confidentially Yours (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, producer)