One of the founders of such a phenomenon in world cinema as the “French New Wave”, is Truffaut Francois. The biography, creative path and personal life of this brilliant actor, a talented filmmaker, screenwriter and producer will be considered in this article.
Soon marks the eighty-four years since the birth of Francois Truffaut. And although the director has not been with us for more than thirty years, what is not a reason to recall his brilliant career? Truffaut is an example of a man "who created himself." He did not have rich parents and powerful patrons. But he realized his childhood dream - he began to make films. And there are more than thirty of them in Truffaut's track record. The most famous of his acting work was the role of Claude Lacombe in the film “Close Encounters of the Third Degree” (Steven Spielberg, 1977). Truffaut’s directorial fame was earned in 1973 by American Night, which won an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film nomination.
Childhood
Truffaut Francois was released in Paris on February 6, 1932. He was an illegitimate child, and his mother, Jeanine de Montferrand, did not want to reveal to him the name of his biological father. She herself worked as a secretary in the newspaper Ilustustion. Immediately after the birth of the child, she passed him into the care of the first nurse, and then to her mother, Genevieve de Montferrand. At the end of 1933, the secretary still got married. Her chosen one was Roland Truffaut, a draftsman of an architectural company. In the spring of 1934, a couple was born to a couple who died two months later. Roland Truffaut adopted a little Francois and gave him his last name. However, in the poor apartment of the draftsman there simply was no place for the child. He was forced to sleep in the corridor, and therefore preferred to live with his grandmother, who lived in the ninth district of Paris. It was Genevieve de Montferrand who instilled in her grandson a love of cinema, music and books.
Adolescence
Grandmother died when Truffaut Francois was ten years old. After that, he was forced to settle in the draftsman’s apartment. Once Francois found his diary, and only in this way found out that Roland was not his own father. This haunted the boy. Already becoming an adult, in 1968, Francois turned to a private detective agency with a request to find his real father. An investigation of the detectives revealed that he was a certain Roland Levy, a Jew from Portugal, who was born in Bayonne and worked in the thirties as a dentist in Paris. The biological father experienced a lot during the fascist occupation of France, and then married in 1949 and has two children.
As a teenager, François tried to be at home as little as possible and spent a lot of time on the street with friends. Even at the age of eight, after watching Abel Hans’s film “Paradise Lost, ” he firmly decided to connect his fate with cinema. He often skipped classes, and at fourteen he left school altogether.
Truffaut Francois: creativity
The young man had no money, no connections. In order to somehow join the world of cinema, he writes articles for Cahiers du Cinema. This magazine was founded by renowned critic Andre Bazin. Together with Truffaut, another young man, Jean-Luc Godard, writes articles in Cinematic Notebooks. Both gifted authors subsequently became recognized directors. When Truffaut was twenty-three years old, he shot his first short film, The Visit (1954). Then followed the tape "Tornado" and "History of Water." The latter was co-authored by JL. Godard and Francois Truffaut. The filmography of the serious works of the director begins with “Four hundred Blows” (1959). This first feature film brought Truffaut not only the Golden Branch at the Cannes Film Festival, but also worldwide fame. And, since this film is somewhat autobiographical, we should pay more attention to it.
Antoine Duanel - director alter ego
The name Four Hits is an idiom. In Russian, “water, fire and copper pipes” corresponds to it. A fourteen-year-old boy, played by the young actor Jean-Pierre Leo, went through great tests. Teachers consider Antoine Duanel truant and a bully, and parents do not pay him any attention. Therefore, a difficult teenager rebels with a vengeance. Antoine Duanel runs away from school, makes his way “to the cinema” and enjoys films. He is placed in a closed correctional boarding school, but from there he manages to escape. After this film, Truffaut Francois completely quarreled with his parents, because not only they (but also the neighbors too) easily recognized the main character of the director who remained behind the scenes. But the film brought an award in Cannes, world fame and a big box office. And therefore, the matured Jean-Pierre Leo starred in the role of the same Antoine Duanel in four more paintings by Truffaut: “Antoine and Colette”, “Stolen Kisses”, “Family Hearth” and “Runaway Love” (1962-1979).
"French New Wave"
Despite the resounding success of the autobiographical film “Four hundred Beats”, as well as an attempt in the thriller genre “Shoot the Pianist” (starring Charles Aznavour himself), they started talking about a new direction in the cinema only after the third full-length movie - “Jules and Jim” "(1961). The love triangle was brilliantly played by actors Henri Serre, Oscar Werner and Jeanne Moreau. The audience remembered the picture as an excellent soundtrack, and Time included it in the TOP One Hundred Timeless Films. Then film critics started talking about the “New French Wave”. Francois Truffaut himself tried to express the features of this movement. Quotes of his statements come down to the fact that the film must constantly keep the viewer in suspense. Cues, sound - all this is just an escort of the drama that is played out in the facial expressions of the actors. In fact, the director turned to silent film masters for inspiration. The idol for Truffaut was Hitchcock. This director did not allow platitudes in his work. And as a result, the audience is captivated by what is happening on the screen until the light comes on in the cinema.
Acting
Truffaut Francois made his debut in the movie "Wild Child" (1969), where he played Dr. Jean Itard. This role did not bring significant success, but the next one - in "American Night" - drew the attention of the public. The praise of film critics was triggered by the acting work of Truffaut in Spielberg's film "Close Encounters of the Third Degree", where he embodied in Claude Lacombe. And finally, one and the last role - Julien Daven in the film "Green Room" (1978). By the way, the director liked to appear in his own films, flickering among extras, either as a person reading a newspaper on a cafe terrace, or as a passer-by. Truffaut admitted in an interview that such an initiative was then transformed into prejudice. Later, the director, wishing good luck to his film, tried to get into the frame of the first five minutes of filming.
Success and failure
Do not think that the creative path of François Truffaut was strewn with roses. Caught on this road and spikes. So, the film "Tender Skin" (1964), in which sister Catherine Deneuve starred, was frankly a failure. But the next picture, a film adaptation of Bradbury’s short story “451 ° Fahrenheit, ” rehabilitated the director in the eyes of the public. "American Night" immediately pulled into four nominations for an Oscar. Truffaut, who, as was his custom, was both a director and an actor (Ferrand), received one figurine for Best Foreign Film. The “Last Metro” immediately won ten “Cesars” - a prestigious French prize in cinema. But we must pay tribute to the stellar cast. The film starred Gerard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve. Neighbor is Truffaut's penultimate film. The film starred Depardieu and Fanny Ardant. This film also won the love of the public and the praise of film critics.
Truffaut Francois: personal life
As a boy, the future director was very amorous. And he remained so all his life. His first love was Lillian, with whom he thrust love notes in shorts. Already at fourteen, he had an affair (albeit unsuccessful) with Secretary Genevieve Santin. When his stepfather placed Francois in a juvenile correctional center, he got along with Mademoiselle Rickers, who worked there as a psychologist. Then there was an affair with Liliane Litwin, with whom Truffaut met on the basis of a love of cinema. Then the Don Juan list was supplemented by Italian Laura Murray. At the Venice Film Festival, the young director met with the daughter of producer Madeleine Morgenstern. And he married her - in 1957. Madeline gave him two daughters, but in 1965 the couple divorced. Evil tongues said that marriage with Madeleine was based solely on the calculation - after all, father-in-law sponsored Truffaut with money to continue his career in cinema. But, most likely, Madeleine was fed up with Francois’s numerous novels, and he himself was guilty of his wife.
