I semi-agree with that assessment. It can be argued that he’s not an actor at all…instead someone molded by Truffaut, who extracted what he needed out of him (a screen counterpart, perhaps?)
Non-Truffaut, he was not particularly memorable in Last Tango in Paris (though who could have been beyond Brando, etc?) and
Godard reportedly treated Leaud very poorly…causing some sort of rift between JLG and Truffaut…some of it comes out in Truffaut’s letters…
His great acting was great in The 400 Blows, but I guess can be more malleable at that age.
His acting was great in The 400 Blows, but I guess boys can be more malleable at that age.
Leaud delivers one of the great performances in film history as Antoine Doinel in THE 400 BLOWS. His other work may have its ups and downs, but there are multiple Academy Award-winning actors who will never equal what Leaud does in that film.
I certainly agree with you Roscoe, and I will say that Leaud has tended to get on my nerves in the Godard films I have seen that feature him.
“…and I will say that Leaud has tended to get on my nerves in the Godard films I have seen that feature him.”
He’s supposed to.
I’d take Leaud’s turns in Tsai Ming-liang’s recent work (even his singular scene in What Time is it There?) over pretty much any performance nominated for an Academy Award in the last decade… and his work for both Godard and Truffaut is normally very good.
I suppose it depends on who or what we’re basing a comparison on… is the Oscar the pinnacle of acting awards? Is an award at Cannes? Should we compare Leaud to the acting work in Rohmer’s films? Or Rivette’s (who worked with Leaud)? Is his work better in so-called ‘acting’ director’s films (which in itself begs for a definition) as opposed to director’s focused more on grammar or form?
What is the basis of our criticism of Leaud’s work?
i think someone should mention the Catastrophic breakdown suffered by leaud after truffaut’s death. bipolar and paranoid delusions took over (the essence of which was the belief that his elderly neighbor was spying on him through a flower pot!) of course godard always had exploited the borderline mania of leaud .
I always thought he was very natural. Out of all of the movies I’ve seen him in, he’s never had any crazy roles that required him to act his ass off. Instead, he always had great roles that were not that out of place in the real world. It’s not like he had to play Daniel Plainview or Freddy Kreuger, he’s always played characters that he seemed to easily connect with.
I like two performances: THE FOUR HUNDRED BLOWS and THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE. Otherwise he seems way too casual.
His seemingly casualness is what makes him such an entirely unique and utterly compelling actor though. He is easily one of my favorite actors. The fact that he essentially plays variations of the same kind of role in most of his films does not bother me in the least. I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: versatility in acting is largely overrated.
“i think someone should mention the Catastrophic breakdown suffered by leaud after truffaut’s death. bipolar and paranoid delusions took over”
I’ve heard vague accounts of this before, but never the exact story, Liam. Where did you read about this?
Now that’s what I call acting:
400 coups and that’s it…he wanted to prove himself i guess that he could actually act. But failed miserably.
instead someone molded by Truffaut, who extracted what he needed out of him
Same for Godard’s use of him …I’ve always viewed him in the manner that he is a theatrical device.
dp
I only seen him in one role, in that famous one :)
I thought he was great in The 400 Blows, and I liked him in Masculin Feminin. Liam, where did you read about his breakdown?.
Oh, yes, Ari, that scene from “Stolen Kisses” is so powerful, I have seen the movie only once a few years ago and don’t remember that much of it but that particular scene has been stuck in my mind for quite a while, thanks for posting it here…
“Liam, where did you read about his breakdown?”. > http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/issue/200610 (the article in question is not one of those free to access though!)
Forgive me if I am wrong because I do not have a source to back this up, but was not the reason for Truffaut’s choice in Leaud in 400 Blows because Leaud was a “non-actor” that Truffaut saw a bit of himself in? As an avatar, Antoine Doinel is not really supposed to be “performed” but “stand-in” for Truffaut’s own character at the various ages of life. It seems to me like Godard the provocateur would have understood that in his own way, and manipulated Truffaut’s use of Leaud, another reason why Truffaut would find cause to get upset—Godard taking a character known as an avatar and changing the semiotics of it, Truffaut seeing it possibly as an attack on that character..
—PolarisDiB
“I will say that there are better French actors, and that he always seems to play a similar sort of character, someone who is a bit cowardly and sort of a jackass for lack of a better word. He always seems to play a guy who has trouble with the ladies.”
We can say then that he doesn’t have range. For me, range is overrated. If Leaud has played himself in The 400 Blows, The Mother and the Whore, Out 1, and Irma Vep, then he’s done a fine job of doing so and he doesn’t need to do anything else.
If he has avoided overextending his range then he should be commended the way we commend Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Chishu Ryu, Maurice Chevalier and many other fine performers who never lost or gained 500 pounds to impress an audience with a freak-show routine but simply inhabited the characters they were asked to play.
Just off-hand, if range in acting is overrated, could we say the same about directing? This is an honest and not rhetorical question.
—PolarisDiB
Leaud is batshit crazy. A number of years back he was institutionalized for attacking his landlady with a hammer.
I ran into him at a CdC event shorlty after he was released. VERY scary.
Where is this “report” that Godard treeated Leaud “very poorly”? His performances in Masculine Feminine and La Chinoise allowed him to break away fromTruffaut (hence their “custody battle” over him.) Plus he made him his a.d. on Pierrot le Fou and other films because Godard sensed that Leaud wanted to direct. He never has.
His greatest performances are Out One, The Mother and the Whore, Der Leone Have Sept Cabecas and La Concentration
@Polaris
I would say so, depending on what you mean by range. If you mean experimentation with different genres, I’d say range is meaningless. If you mean covering a spectrum of emotions, using actors with limited or full range to get there, then it can have a great deal meaning for filmmakers.
“His other work may have its ups and downs”
Examples? i have yet to see a Leaud film where I was disappointed by him specifically, including the brief acting of his in Tsai’s film as Lord said, including his not-so brief acting of his in Kaurismaki’s Vie de Boheme. If anyone can offer me a valid example of up and down in his work (and no, the Last Tango example is typically “American” for people who haven’t seen Leaud at all except the Godard-Truffaut syndrome), I’ll gladly watch it myself.
(I have more respect for Leaud than some famous gringos like De Niro or Stewart)
Jean-Pierre Leaud is awesome as hell. I have never been disappointed by his work (I felt that his performance in Last Tango worked very well, actually), and I don’t know that I ever will dislike a performance. He’s my favorite French actor, as of right now.
Savvy
i giggle and melt when leaud points out the gestures that his fingers can do…and i’ll look forward to any film with him in. has he ever been in a film where his acting was inappropriate?
He did also Bohemian life,a kaurismaki film…simply awful.
^ La Vie De Boheme an awful film or an awful performance? Both the film and the performance were SUPERB!!!
i agree with twodeadmagpies. seeing leaud makes me clap my hands and jump around. i love his energy. he makes my day if i see him around in a film, even for a few poor seconds. he’s much more than a puppet for truffaut or godard. i believe in him.
why haven’t anyone mentioned kaurismäki’s i hired a contract killer? when it comes to that film you can’t really say he’s something you’ve seen before.
Rossi
My father, who is from France, told me he couldn’t stand Leaud, saying he could not act for his life. Do you agree with this assessment, or does my father not “get” Leaud? I will say that there are better French actors, and that he always seems to play a similar sort of character, someone who is a bit cowardly and sort of a jackass for lack of a better word. He always seems to play a guy who has trouble with the ladies.