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CinémaTuesdays
François Truffaut:
A Winter Portrait
November 3, 10, 17, 24, 2009
December 1, 8, 15, 22, 2009
Florence Gould Hall

As critic and director, François Truffaut’s commitment to the integrity of the auteur became synonymous with a classical vision of the New Wave. The 1970s saw Truffaut’s career enter its second decade: between 1969 and 1980 he refined his intensely personal vision of filmmaking across a series of bold, tender, and often melancholy features which sketch the portrait of an artist at the center of an industry. Taken together, the eight vibrant films in our series tell the story of a figure who, like the greatest French directors, incarnates the concerns of his generation: originality, honesty, impertinence, tradition, commerce, passion, revolt. In a word: cinema.

Meet the wonderful actress Bernadette Lafont on December 15 when she comes to FIAF to present A Gorgeous Girl Like Me, in which she stars.

Mississippi Mermaid
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm

La Sirène du Mississipi
François Truffaut, 1970. Color. 123 min.
With Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Deneuve,
Martine Ferrière, Michel Bouquet
In French with English subtitles

Farmer Louis arranges to finally meet his mail-order bride, Julie. Yet upon their introduction, he cannot shake the feeling that this is not the woman who sent the pictures and letters he cherishes. The chemistry and tension between Deneuve and Belmondo is heightened by the electric colors saturating every frame.

Review
So full of lovely, complex things… It is the creation of a superior moviemaker who works eccentrically in the classical tradition.
—Vincent Canby, The New York Times

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The Wild Child
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm

The 7:30pm screening will be introduced by noted
film critic and historian, Elliot Stein of the Village Voice.

L’Enfant sauvage
François Truffaut, 1970. B & W. 83 min.
With Jean-Pierre Cargol, François Truffaut, Françoise Seigner
In French with English subtitles

Truffaut began the decade with this deeply felt study of what it means to be civilized and, in the truest sense, human. It also marks his first starring role, as he assuredly handles the role of a doctor who studies a “wild child” discovered in woodlands and attempts to socialize him.

Review
My dear François, I saw The Wild Child I think magnificent please send me the autograph of actor who plays the doctor he is wonderful, I wish this autograph for Alma Hitchcock her eyes were bath in tears this film she says is the best of all those by Truffaut profound affection.
—Telegram from Alfred Hitchcock

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Two English Girls
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm

Les deux Anglaises et le Continent
François Truffaut, 1971. Color. 108 min.
With Jean-Pierre Léaud, Stacey Kika Markham,
Sylvia Tendeter, Marie Marriott
In French with English subtitles

An underrated film that deserves to be mentioned with
The 400 Blows and Jules and Jim as Truffaut’s greatest work.
The introduction of Claude (Léaud) to the Brown sisters kindles a tortured love triangle that changes shape and direction in the decades that follow, nearly ruining all involved. Sublime and elegant.

Reviews
I tried to make not a film about physical love,
but a physical film about love.
—François Truffaut

One of Truffaut’s most tantalizing romances… the film is simultaneously introspective and passionate.
—Time Out Film Guide

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Small Change
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm

L’Argent de poche
François Truffaut, 1976. Color. 104 min.
With Nicole Félix, Chantal Mercier, Jean-François Stévenin
In French with English subtitles

The clarity, energy, and elegance with which Truffaut approached childhood was immediately obvious from his
first films. Small Change expands his scope to a broader
range of children—from infants to teenagers—but the
director’s unmistakable passion for youth remains, bringing cohesion to this lovely, episodic film that bristles with vitality.

Review
It’s a labor of love that ignores precedent with splendid verve and a film with so many associations to other Truffaut films that watching it is like meeting a previously unknown relative, someone both familiar and utterly new and surprising.
—The New York Times

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The Story of Adèle H.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm

L’Histoire d’Adèle H.
François Truffaut, 1975. Color. 96 min.
With Isabelle Adjani, Bruce Robinson, Sylvia Marriott
In French with English subtitles

Truffaut’s films often explore romance and devotion,
but The Story of Adèle H. delves further into themes of tragedy and obsession. In a star-making, Oscar-nominated
role for Adjani, Adèle offers endless love to a man who wants nothing of it. His rejection leads her to disgrace, degradation, and ultimately insanity.

Review
Truffaut’s most severe, most romantic meditation upon love…
looks and sounds like no other Truffaut film you’ve ever seen.
—Vincent Canby, The New York Times

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The Man Who Loved Women
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm

L’Homme qui aimait les femmes
François Truffaut, 1977. Color. 120 min.
With Charles Denner, Brigitte Fossey,
Nelly Borgeaud, Geneviève Fontanel
In French with English subtitles

Looking back on his life, Bertrand Morane (Denner) marvels
at the numerous women he bedded and at how much these women cared for him. What at first seems frivolous grows resonant and poignant as Morane’s loneliness slowly reveals itself in this wry and moving (and for Truffaut, slightly autobiographical) film.

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A Gorgeous Girl Like Me
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm

The 7:30pm screening will be introduced by noted
film critic and historian, Elliot Stein of the Village Voice.

Une belle fille comme moi
François Truffaut, 1972. Color. 98 min.
With Bernadette Lafont, Claude Brasseur, Charles Denner
In French with English subtitles

A young sociologist’s interview with killer Camille Bliss is
the unlikely foundation for one of Truffaut’s most successful comedies. Conceived as a tribute to Lafont (a New Wave linchpin), A Gorgeous Girl Like Me uses flashbacks and
farce to chronicle the men who have fallen under her spell
and paid dearly for it.

Review
Uncharacteristically wild and outrageously funny for a Truffaut
film, often veering towards farce on a few occasions, but
relentlessly entertaining. —Films de France

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Special Screening
A Gorgeous Girl Like Me
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 7:30pm

The 7:30pm screening of Une belle fille comme moi /
A Gorgeous Girl Like Me will be introduced by noted film critic and historian, Elliot Stein of the Village Voice.

Please Note: Actress Bernadette Lafont was scheduled to present the screening but due to personal reasons has cancelled her trip to New York and will not attend the screening.

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The Last Métro
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm

Le dernier métro
François Truffaut, 1980. Color. 131 min.
With Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu
In French with English subtitles

Though not often regarded as a political filmmaker, Truffaut could engage with history as well as anyone. Here, Depardieu and Deneuve star as theater actors desperate to survive the German occupation in WWII. A testament to the value of art in life, the film won ten César awards, including Best Picture.

Review
François Truffaut’s 19th feature is his richest, most satisfying
film in years, adroit dramatic entertainment, gracefully
romantic and uplifting.
—Variety

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Venue
Florence Gould Hall
55 East 59th Street

Ticket Prices
FIAF Members Free** ($2 advance tickets)
Non-Members $10
Students with ID $7
**Present your membership card at the box office for FREE tickets on day of the screening or get advance tickets for $2

Buy Tickets
Online: Ticketmaster.com
Call: 212 307 4100

Fax Order Form (pdf)

Visit Box Office

Special Offer
Present your ticket and receive a 15% discount on your bill at Bistro 60 (37 E 60 St). Valid only on date printed on ticket.

Curated by Marie Losier and Sam Di Iorio, Associate Professor
of French at Hunter College

Special thanks to Sam Di Iorio, Bernadette Lafont, Jackie Raynal,
The Film Desk, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy,
and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Cinéma at FIAF is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State agency

Fall 2009 Sponsors:
American Airlines, the official airline of FIAF
Cultural Services of the French Embassy
Culturesfrance
Florence Gould Foundation

Photos courtesy of Photofest