The Films in My Life

In 1959, an impassioned young cinephile and critic, fueled by a love of Alfred Hitchcock and Ingmar Bergman, tried his hand at filmmaking. This ambitious artist was Francois Truffaut, and this first film that he made, THE 400 BLOWS, helped to start one of the most influential film movements in history, the French New Wave. Though he continued on to make a large body of critically acclaimed films, Truffaut did not stop writing about the films that shaped his life and work. Compiled in THE FILMS IN MY LIFE, these inspired essays cover directors as varied as Charlie Chaplin, Nicholas Ray, Roger Vadim, and Federico Fellini. Lyrically written and highly intelligent, Truffaut`s cinematic ruminations avoid falling into highbrow snobbery or erudite incomprehensibility. Dedicated to one of his heroes, Jacques Rivette, THE FILMS IN MY LIFE is divided into thematic sections, starting with a focus on his major influences and ending with a section on some contemporary foreign outsiders. If one can come to know a person through what he loves, this is as much an autobiography of the great filmmaker himself as it is a loving paean to the magic of cinema. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.