|
| • Advanced Search • Help |
The Soft Skin | Year: 1964 Classification: Foreign Film - French Directed: - François Truffaut All that Matters is The Soft Skin of The Woman You Love When this film was released in 1964 it bombed commercially and was critically panned in every quarter, even booed at the Cannes Film Festival. Retrospective overviews and a more enlightened appreciation of Truffaut's entire body of work as a unit has done some good in enhancing its reputation, although not enough. Truffaut was still being justly commended for his beautiful masterpiece JULES ET JIM when LA PEAU DUCE premiered, and the derision it met with can be attributed to the unfounded notion that a director cannot follow one "tour de force" with another. Reluctance and wariness greeted the film's sombre tone and downbeat ending. LA PEAU DUCE was not allowed to breathe, and therefore not allowed to intoxicate and energize its audience. Ultimately what its detractors failed to realize was that great artists do not make bad art. The film concerns writer Pierre (Jean Desailly) and his infatuation with air stewardess Nicole (Francoise Dorleac) whom he meets on a matter of fact flight from Paris to Lisbon. Fascinated, the Balzac aficionado leaves his sensually lovely wife (Nelly Benedetti) and daughter (played to our delight by little Sabine of JULES ET JIM) in order to commit himself totally to Nicole, only to meet with unforeseen ruin. The role of Pierre is a somewhat unsympathetic one and, although played superbly by Desailly, he would later claim that it thwarted his career. As in all of Truffaut's films, it is the complete rebuttal of machismo that serves to humanize our male protagonist - unable to consult with his common sense when touched by the Soft Skin - and also to reinforce the potent femininity of our heroine; she who lives her life from one moment to the next, engaging her most endearing whims impulsively and without the consideration of consequence. The film's greatest performance is that of Francoise Dorleac. The sister of Catherine Deneuve, she shares with her sibling the most striking and intelligent beauty ever to grace the cinema. But where Deneuve's icy sensuality make her the perfect anti-heroine of Bunuel's BELLE DE JOUR and Truffaut's own MISSISSIPPI MERMAID (another stroke of genius from Truffaut that is sorely underrated), Dorleac's allure is one of warmth and exuberance. She smiles with her whole body, joyously and completely unaffected. This film is one of only three worthy showcases of the flair of this great enigma. She is most beautifully photographed in Polanski's ingenious CUL DE SAC, where she is visceral, fearless and elegant; and in Jacques Demy's gorgeous and effervescent LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT, the world's most beautiful sisters share the screen for what surely would not have been the only time, had not Dorleac's life been tragically cut short before her prime. Indeed, one of Truffaut's key cinematic virtues was in directing actresses, women with whom he almost always fell in love, just as we fall in love in front of the screen. His mantra, evoking that of Jean Renoir, was that t Human--all too human Pierre Lachenay (Jean Desailly) is a middle-aged Parisian literary critic--married to Franka (Nelly Benedetti). While travelling to one of his many speaking engagements, he meets Nicole (Francoise Dorleac)--a beautiful, free-spirited airline stewardess. Pierre and Nicole begin an affair. Pierre's wife soon suspects, and Pierre has to make a decision. Jean Desailly is masterful as the shallow, vain Pierre--whose public persona and lofty ideals soon fall by the wayside. The looks of longing he sends to Nicole on the first evening they meet are perfect. Nelly Benedetti as Franka--the wronged wife--is coiled as tightly as a snake, and the domestic scenes between Pierre and Franka are loaded with tension and resentment. Special note here for Francoise Dorleac--if she looks familiar--that's because she is Catherine Deneuve's older sister. French cinema has enjoyed a long love affair with Deneuve, but Francoise Dorleac's career was cut short when she was tragically killed in a car accident in 1967 at age 25. "The Soft Skin" is Francois Truffaut's fourth film--made before he entered his French New Wave period. One of the biggest criticisms of this film is that the plot is old and stale. Yet fidelity--or the lack thereof--is one of Truffaut's favourite themes. I did not find the plot stale at all. In "the Soft Skin," Truffaut plays with the notion of chance--he emphasizes, for example how close Pierre comes to missing the plane--and Nicole, but at the same time, character weighs in heavily. It is Pierre's character that leads him into the affair, and his vanity that suggests Nicole dress suitably as a companion for him--while at the same time, he casually abandons her on weekend that is supposed to be a romantic retreat. And it is Pierre's shallowness that suggests they take a room at a shabby hotel that literally rents rooms for 15 minute periods. Truffaut suggests that while chance plays a certain role in our lives, character is dominant. In spite of the fact that this black and white film was made in the 60s, it did not seem dated at all (yes there were extended scenes with a rotary dial phone). The issues are as relevant today as they were 40 years ago. This is a wonderful film, and well worth seeing if you are a lover of French cinema. ---displacedhuman One of Truffaut's Best You would think the names Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut have little in common, but, for some unexplainable reason Truffaut adored the films of Hitchcock. Now, don't get me wrong, Hitchcock was a great filmmaker. I love watching "Rear Window" and "Psycho" and all of his other films, but, Truffaut, doesn't seem to be the same "league" as Hitchcock. And what I mean by that is, they both seemed to explore different things in their films.<BR> "The Soft Skin" finds Truffaut once again in Hitchcock mode, like "Confidentially Yours", Truffaut's final film. "The Soft Skin" is a wonderful entertaining film that doesn't let up for a moment. It has suspense and laughs. The film stars the beautiful late Francoise Dorleac (Catherine Deneuve's older sister) and Jean Desailly. Desailly plays Pierre Lachenay a well known writer who finds himself having an affair with Dorleac. But can we blame him? lol. Lachenay is now left with a serious problem, what about his wife. Can he go through with the affair and do this to his wife? Or should he call it off and never see the woman again? The way Trauffaut examines this is in a way Hitchcock would of been proud.<BR> The film has a nice look to it, and a good musical score. And because it's a Truffaut film, the directing is great! If your a Truffaut fan, you'll love this film. If your not a Truffaut fan. I'd wait a while before I see this one. A very enjoyable film. Buy The Soft Skin at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on The Soft Skin Search with the Priority Search Engine on The Soft Skin This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
|
