Francois Truffaut - today?

Currently, I am finishing the book ‘Letters’ – composed of hundreds of letters written by Fancois Truffaut before his untimely and premature death.

I began thinking about all things New Wave and how Mr Truffaut had evolved as a filmmaker over his career. I then found myself asking the question: “What kind of films (if any) would he have made in today’s Cinematic Culture?”.

Any thoughts good people of The Auteurs?

The only thought I have now is.. how come I’ve never heard of that book? And is it amazing?

I agree with Harry, no idea what kind of films Truffaut would be making today, but it would be interesting to talk about the book “Letters”.

I’m not sure that Truffaut would have adapted to the current “Cinematic Culture” or changed his themes or techniques very much. Although he was always a cinephile and viewed thousands of movies, he seemed to follow his own path when writing and directing (even if influenced by Renoir and Hitchcock).

There will always be a place for humane and humanistic filmmakers, and so I don’t off-hand think he would have adjusted his ways too much because of changing international patterns. Besides, subsequent films (I’m thinking in particular of AMELIE and HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME NOT) proved that the Truffaut sensibility lived on after his untimely demise.

I have the Letters book in French (originally simply called “Correspondance”). It’s a fascinating collection of Truffaut’s letters to his friends and colleagues (he was a heavy letter writer; the book, as big as it is, doesn’t even cover the totality of his letters!).

I don’t know how Truffaut would have continued to evolve as a filmmaker in this day and age, but I am certain that he would have embraced DVDs (and now Blu-ray discs) and the possibility to include extras. He probably would have had a few “director-approved” editions of his films on Criterion. On the other hand, the poor treatment of 10 of his films by MGM probably would have broken his heart (unless he would have bought back the rights to them).

I think he would enjoy the works of Todd Field

One movie I’m sure he would’ve done was another Antoine Doinel film with Antoine coping with his twilight years (starring the now 60+ year old Jean Pierre Leaud, of course).

I think as his films became increasingly classical, he would have become more conservative in tastes and would probably not have liked much of contemporary cinema. But that’s just a guess.