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FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT
Cinema as an Act of Love
An Intertextual Approach
Aner Preminger
©2015
All Rights Reserved
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“The film of tomorrow will be an act of love.”
—François Truffaut
In memory of my mother and father, whose spirits were with me while writing this
book.
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Part I: François Truffaut: From Life to Cinema | From Cinema to Life
Chapter 1: The Film of His Life | Biography
Chapter 2: The Films of His Life | Filmography
Chapter 3: Collector of Culture
Part II: Intertextuality | The Theoretical Discourse
Chapter 4: Defining the Intertextual Discourse
Intertextuality
Intertext
Intertextual Categories
The Bloomian Discourse
Chapter 5: Cinematic Intertextuality: Applying the Semiotic-Conceptual Framework
The Status of Intertextuality in Cinema ’Studies Today
An Overview of Intertextual Approaches in Cinema Studies
A Summary of the Intertextual Studies of Truffaut’s Films
Uncharted Fields of Study in Cinematic Intertextuality
Chapter 6: François Truffaut and the French New Wave | The Historical Context
The Importance of Intertextuality in the Study of Truffaut and the French
New Wave
François Truffaut as Reflected through the Prism of Harold Bloom
From Realistic-Classical Narrative to Modernism
Chapter 7: Hypotheses and Goals
Study’s Goals
Methodology
Part III : The Films in His Life
Chapter 8: The Mischief Makers (Les Mistons, 1957)
Chapter 9: The Antoine Doinel Cycle
The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups, 1959)
Antoine and Colette - Love at Twenty (Antoine et Colette - L’Amour à Vingt
Ans, 1962)
Stolen Kisses (Baisers Volés, 1968)
Bed and Board (Domicile Conjugal, 1970)
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Love on the Run (L’Amour en Fuite, 1979)
Antoine Doinel and the Human Comedy
Chapter 10: Shoot the Piano Player (Tirez sur le Pianiste, 1960)
Chapter 11: Jules and Jim (Jules et Jim, 1961)
Evolution of the Narrative in Truffaut’s First Three Films: From the ClassicalRealist
to the Modern
Chapter 12: The Pygmalion Trilogy
Chapter 13: The Soft Skin (La Peau Douce, 1964)
The Evolution of the Female Characters in Truffaut’s First Six Films
Chapter 14: Mississippi Mermaid (La Sirène du Mississippi, 1969)
Chapter 15: Day for Night (La Nuit Américaine, 1973)
Chapter 16: Conclusion: Truffaut’s Cinema - From Being Influenced to Being an
Influence
Part IV: Appendices
Chapter 17: quantitive summary tables
Chapter 18: Study Objectives | A Summary
Filmography
Bibliography
Indices
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Methodology
The study examines eleven films by Truffaut: The Mischief Makers (Les Mistons,
1957), The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups, 1959), Shoot the Piano Player (Tirez
sur le Pianiste, 1960), Jules and Jim (Jules et Jim, 1961), Antoine and Collette
(Antoine et Colette, 1962), The Soft Skin (La Peau Douce, 1964), Stolen Kisses
(Baisers Volés, 1968), Mississippi Mermaid (La Sirène du Mississipi, 1969), Bed and
Board (Domicile Conjugal, 1970), Day for Night (La Nuit Américaine, 1973), and
Love on the Run (L’Amour en Fuite, 1978). Each film is examined and interpreted
based principally on intertextuality but relating also to a complex of cinematic and
narrative elements. The cases examined are those in which intertextual analysis
reinforces the analysis of the text as a closed text and therefore serves as a means of
cinematic utterance that combines with other means to create a full meaning, as well
as cases in which intertextuality enables new insights and an expansion of the
meaning of the closed text. The intertextual interpretation is conducted in the
following manner:
1. Identification of an intertextual nexus in which we have a text and an
intertext;
2. Definition and characterization of the latter—identification of identical
elements, similarities and dissimilarities between the primary text and
the intertext being examined;
3. Indication of the intertextual nexus’ context and function in the film
under discussion;
4. Examination of the intertextual nexus’ contribution to larger
complexes such as: structure, genre, cinematic school, creation of
expectations, cinematic utterance, cinematic statements and historical
order.
Once we have clarified our goals and defined our vocabulary and discourse,
we will address the heart of our discussion in the following chapters: a new
reading into Truffaut’s films.