Encyclopedia of French Film Directors

André Bazin, led him to journalism. In 1950, he published
his fi rst 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 fi rst short,
Une Visite (edited by Alain Resnais), in 1955. Author of
the original story of A Bout de Souffl e / 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 fi lms (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, Souleymane
Cissé, France / West Germany / Burkina Faso
/ Mali). An actor in several of his fi lms, 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 unfi lmed 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
fi rst published by Simon and Schuster in 1967)
was born from their meeting. He also gathered some
TRUFFAUT, FRANÇOIS • 973
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)
1960 Tirez sur le Pianiste / UK: Shoot the Pianist /
UK and USA: Shoot the Piano Player (also coscreenwriter,
co-adapter, dialogist)
1961 Tire-au-Flanc 62 / UK: The Sad Sack / USA:
The Army Game (co-director with Claude de
Givray; also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, codialogist)
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, coadapter,
co-dialogist; UK)
1968 La Mariée était en noir / La sposa in nero /
UK and USA: The Bride Wore Black (also coscreenwriter,
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 screenwriter,
adapter, dialogist, producer; France /
Italy)