News for today's 2018

<br /> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZWKeBtlsebrcEbPu4C26yQH3ny01cT7OUiXMiGlBFIm7fCBn3gV3YR37DuCm8fBXL0DOJtub4AiU9yj6gWZTaY97XrE5SP8RO3XGE5vNX31mZMxBW2zBIpu6a7dXYuV_QeJKUSsvvwng/s1200/francois-truffaut-directing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZWKeBtlsebrcEbPu4C26yQH3ny01cT7OUiXMiGlBFIm7fCBn3gV3YR37DuCm8fBXL0DOJtub4AiU9yj6gWZTaY97XrE5SP8RO3XGE5vNX31mZMxBW2zBIpu6a7dXYuV_QeJKUSsvvwng/s400/francois-truffaut-directing.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Francois Truffaut</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Friday nights in July are going to be hot, and I’m not talking about the weather where I live. Beginning tonight and on the 12<sup>th</sup>, 19<sup>th</sup> and 26<sup>th</sup>, Turner Classic Movies will feature hour after hour of the films of one of the pioneers and masters of the French New Wave, Francois Truffaut (1932 – 1984). Film Critic <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">David Edelstein</span> of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Magazine</i> and NPR’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fresh Air</i>, hosts the series.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><a name='more'></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Coincidentally, I’ve been catching up with and revisiting Truffaut on my own lately. It started when I was putting together a birthday tribute to the French actress <a href="http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-birthday-tribute-to-francoise-dorleac.html"><span style="color: #990000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Francois Dorleac</b></span></a> in March. Dorleac worked with several legendary European filmmakers in her brief but notable career – Philippe de Broca, Jacques Demy, Roman Polanski, Ken Russell - and Truffaut. I'd seen Polanski's <i>C</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ul-de-sac</i> (1966), Demy's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Young Girls of Rochefort</i> (1967), and set out to find de Broca's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That Man from Rio</i> (1964), Russell's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Billion Dollar Brain </i>(1967) and Truffaut's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Soft Skin</i> (1964). I’m still looking for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That Man from Rio</i>, but did manage to get my hands on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Billion Dollar Brain </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Soft Skin</i>.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs3HomJJk2b58dv5QOmT42SHlHVCm76FY01ZHIqBH2F7IIrR2MkYYu8gFBfNm8lRnwv9HUF1mWhrPGHNZgp5P9F5EEam7sQTGBwR1T607nAVAv6lFK9tU7P4-61j_QEVpGdBuX9TEMVQo/s500/soft-skin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs3HomJJk2b58dv5QOmT42SHlHVCm76FY01ZHIqBH2F7IIrR2MkYYu8gFBfNm8lRnwv9HUF1mWhrPGHNZgp5P9F5EEam7sQTGBwR1T607nAVAv6lFK9tU7P4-61j_QEVpGdBuX9TEMVQo/s400/soft-skin.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jean Desailly and Francoise Dorleac, <i>The Soft Skin </i>(1964)</td></tr></tbody></table></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Soft Skin</i> has never been one of Truffaut’s better known films. When it screened at Cannes in 1964, the crowd booed and, in its time, the film was generally dismissed as conventional and disappointing. Following as it did on the heels of his innovative and much-admired earlier works<i> - </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The 400 Blows </i>(1959), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shoot the Piano Player </i>(1960) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jules and Jim </i>(1962) - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Soft Skin</i> was derided by some as Truffaut’s bid for mainstream acceptance. Stuffy New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther, who famously fell badly out of step with the times in the ‘60s, called it “a curiously crude and hackneyed drama.” However, as so often happens, with the passage of years came reassessment and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Soft Skin</i>, though still relatively obscure among Truffaut’s films, has gained a reputation among film buffs as one of his stronger efforts. A deceptively straightforward but suspenseful modern domestic drama, it deals with the sudden and ardent extramarital affair of a celebrated literary scholar, and features affecting performances by its two stars - Jean Desailly as the besotted intellectual and Francois Dorleac as the beautiful young thing of a flight attendant who turns his well-ordered life upside down. <a href="http://www.criterion.com/explore/81-georges-delerue"><span style="color: #990000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Georges Delerue</b></span></a>, the award-winning composer who scored 11 Truffaut films, composed a striking score evocative of the frantic pace and emotional disconnect that marked the Space Age.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQzcCEqXySpplRl7WL9KMWDzwyF6UKg38MO2Uiiqd7WG1_2N5ryN_fTrykiIGVfFco-pP7Bu7rDCgmfoEw9yXCav-ZfUxtGx5CS7wnW4HFFccqa0r7d0aK0c5aRJrRNccad9wudWdmcE/s626/Hitchcock-Truffaut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQzcCEqXySpplRl7WL9KMWDzwyF6UKg38MO2Uiiqd7WG1_2N5ryN_fTrykiIGVfFco-pP7Bu7rDCgmfoEw9yXCav-ZfUxtGx5CS7wnW4HFFccqa0r7d0aK0c5aRJrRNccad9wudWdmcE/s320/Hitchcock-Truffaut.jpg" width="255" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Soft Skin </i>was the first of four films in what is known as Truffaut’s “Hitchcock cycle,” a group of films he was working on at the time he conducted and published his <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/393601.Hitchcock_Truffaut"><b><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">now-famous interviews</span></span></b></a> with the Master of Suspense, each of which reflects Hitchcock's influence. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Soft Skin</i> was followed in the cycle by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fahrenheit 451 </i>(1966), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Bride Wore Black </i>(1968) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mississippi Mermaid</i> (1969). All but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fahrenheit 451 </i>will be screened on TCM this month.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In June, when it aired as part of another TCM Friday Night Spotlight series, I recorded <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shoot the Piano Player</i>, Truffaut’s inventive and completely charming New Wave classic. Unpredictable, by turns comic and tragic, its special charms are accentuated by a charismatic and perfectly cast star, Charles Aznavour, and Delerue’s infectious,  jazzy score. I found it irresistible and watched it twice in a sitting. This put me in the mood for yet more Truffaut, and I very soon revisited one of his early ‘70s classics, Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Day for Night</i> (1973), a delightful celluloid homage to filmmaking, the great love of Truffaut's life.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqr06Vw7UOUTI4ICxLr-JhTgItK9aRLlIR23UduWHfXe_cpKFt67UahT_m-V_XYLITRd_8TwzlFN3iSNiaPXlNgLJkwvmT2da7UciVooPzJDVgAoVKzXJUeABtEEfL0HqhulOqlk-nHCc/s1200/day-for-night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqr06Vw7UOUTI4ICxLr-JhTgItK9aRLlIR23UduWHfXe_cpKFt67UahT_m-V_XYLITRd_8TwzlFN3iSNiaPXlNgLJkwvmT2da7UciVooPzJDVgAoVKzXJUeABtEEfL0HqhulOqlk-nHCc/s400/day-for-night.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Pierre L<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">é</span>aud, <i>Day for Night </i>(1973)</td></tr></tbody></table></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: black;">TCM's Friday night series includes 21 Truffaut films, from <i>The 400 Blows</i>, his first feature, to his very last, <i>Confidentially Yours </i>(1983). See full program schedule below.</span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/642865|0/Scorsese-Screens-for-July.html"><span style="color: #990000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Click here</b></span></a> to read Martin Scorsese’s moving tribute to Francois Truffaut for TCM in his current “Scorsese Screens” column.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Friday Night Spotlight: Francois Truffaut</b> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">(begins 8pm Eastern/5 pm Pacific)</span></div></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>July 5 </u></span></b></div></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The 400 Blows</i>(1959) stars young Jean-Pierre Léaud as Truffaut’s alter-ego Antoine Doinel in his troubled adolescence</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Antoine and Colette</i>(1962), a film short with Léaud as Antoine Doinel; Marie-France Pisier co-stars as the woman with whom he becomes obsessed</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stolen Kisses</i>(1968), Truffaut’s second feature-length film, with Léaud again as Doinel who, by this time, is leaving military service and adapting to civilian life; with Delphine Seyrig and Claude Jade</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bed & Board</i>(1970), the third installment in “the Doinel cycle,” stars Léaud, with Claude Jade as his wife</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love on the Run</i>(1979), the last in the Doinel series, with Léaud as Doinel, Jade as his ex-wife, and flashbacks to footage from the earlier films</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Green Room aka/Vanishing Fiancee</i> (1978), the story of a man unable to stop grieving the death of his wife, starring Francois Truffaut, Nathalie Baye and Jean Daste</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>July 12</u></span></b></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Bride Wore Black</i>(1968) with Jeanne Moreau in a Hitchcockian tale of a new bride’s single-minded vengeance, with Jean-Claude Brialy; based on a novel by Cornell Woolrich</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Confidentially Yours</i>(1983) - Jean-Louis Trintignant and Fanny Ardant star in the story of a wrong man accused</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mississippi Mermaid</i>(1969), starring Catherine Deneauve as Jean-Paul Belmondo’s mail order bride; adapted from a Cornell Woolrich novel</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me</i> (1972), a black comedy with Bernadette Lafont as a beautiful woman in prison who recounts her life story to a sociologist</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shoot the Piano Player</i>(1960) stars Charles Aznavour as a one-time concert pianist who seeks anonymity but can’t escape his past </span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>July 19</u></span></b></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Soft Skin</i>(1964), This story of a literary highbrow who falls madly for a beautiful young woman was allegedly inspired by true stories of adultery and mayhem; starring Jean Desailly, Francoise Dorleac and Nelly Benedetti</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jules and Jim</i>(1962) with Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner and Henri Serre in the tale of an ill-fated love triangle</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Two English Girls</i>(1971) stars Jean-Pierre Léaud as a young French writer who has romantic involvements with two sisters</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Story of Water</i>(1961), co-directed with Jean-Luc Goddard, is a short film about a young woman determined to leave her village and go to Paris; with Jean-Claude Brialy and Caroline Dim</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Woman Next Door</i>(1981) is Fanny Ardant, who unwittingly becomes the new neighbor of happily married Gerard Depardieu, her former lover</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Man Who Loved Women</i> (1977) stars Charles Denner as Bertrand, a compulsive womanizer whose skirt-chasing has fateful consequences, with Brigitte Fossey and Leslie Caron.</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>July 26</u></span></b></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Day for Night</i>(1973) with Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Francois Truffaut and Nathalie Baye – Truffaut’s timeless paean to moviemaking</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Last Metro</i>(1980), set in Paris during the Nazi occupation, stars Catherine Deneuve as an actress whose director-husband is Jewish and must go into hiding</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Wild Child</i>(1970), about a boy literally raised by wolves, starring Francois Truffaut and Jean-Pierre Cargol</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Story of Adele H</i>(1975) with Isabelle Adjani as Adele, the high-strung daughter of renowned 19<sup>th</sup>century poet/novelist/dramatist Victor Hugo, who becomes romantically obsessed with a military officer</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN8h3h6COzlWb9dVF66gzFmiowe-R8KqhvhlZl7QTVTbJdeFNnnFHeTqY0pQflhBy5qOtZGWHONrEModXoX2BtLphw5Zl3tvboc9Tz8dx-T5hJpjOzHtk3mxvJW9kX4Phz-3qjUK5tdHE/s600/the+bride+wore+black.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN8h3h6COzlWb9dVF66gzFmiowe-R8KqhvhlZl7QTVTbJdeFNnnFHeTqY0pQflhBy5qOtZGWHONrEModXoX2BtLphw5Zl3tvboc9Tz8dx-T5hJpjOzHtk3mxvJW9kX4Phz-3qjUK5tdHE/s400/the+bride+wore+black.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Jeanne Moreau, </span><i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Bride Wore Black </span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">(1968), poster art</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

TCM's Friday Night Spotlight in July: Francois Truffaut

Francois Truffaut Friday nights in July are going to be hot, and I’m not talking about the weather where I live. Beginning tonight and on t...

TCM's Friday Night Spotlight in July: Francois Truffaut

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