The Soft Skin
1964 ‘La Peau Douce’ Directed by François Truffaut
Synopsis
Pierre Lachenay is a well-known publisher and lecturer, married with Franca and father of Sabine, around 10. He meets an air hostess, Nicole. They start a love affair, which Pierre is hiding, but he cannot stand staying away from her.
Cast
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Eminent man of letters, middle aged, flabby, married with child(ren), has affair with implausibly stunning younger and less learned woman. It's a story that launched a thousand novels, screenplays and TV series. Le Peau Douce broke scandalous ground in its day, but, as with the last few times I encountered this plot in any form, I was not infrequently bored.
However, Truffaut has a merciless eye for the small ways in which people hurt: throwing away an unsent note telling someone they mean more than the world to you, silently feeling neglected although you know very well that a person has things they need to do, a tsunami of apologies the second you've heard yourself say something bad... there are…
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Really interesting relationship drama from Truffaut. Hitchcockian almost. Very beautiful black and white drama made early in the auteur’s career. Solid piece of work more than deserving of a Criterion Blu-ray. (A-)
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While Truffaut was high on Hitchcock (he was interviewing him for a book) when he made this dark fable, The Soft Skin is often praised for its realism and its objective approach to the subject of adultery. Though it seems to drag on forever - and it lacks a smidgen of hope and sunshine - the real marvel of Truffaut's film is how beautifully he shows the flaws in the nature of human methodology. The protagonist's path from beginning to end is so clear and so ungussied, it plays like the master list of an adulterer being read aloud by a filmmaker desperate to create the quintessential moral tale. So, essentially, more than Hitchcock, Truffaut appears to be aping Eric Rohmer.
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An overlooked gem. No more than a well-acted and spryly directed love triangle tale... which, in Truffaut's hands, is more than enough. In fact, it's not far from flawless.
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Quite possibly the most mature (but still darkly funny) film about fucking around I've ever seen.
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While Truffaut was high on Hitchcock (he was interviewing him for a book) when he made this dark fable, The Soft Skin is often praised for its realism and its objective approach to the subject of adultery. Though it seems to drag on forever - and it lacks a smidgen of hope and sunshine - the real marvel of Truffaut's film is how beautifully he shows the flaws in the nature of human methodology. The protagonist's path from beginning to end is so clear and so ungussied, it plays like the master list of an adulterer being read aloud by a filmmaker desperate to create the quintessential moral tale. So, essentially, more than Hitchcock, Truffaut appears to be aping Eric Rohmer.
-
Really interesting relationship drama from Truffaut. Hitchcockian almost. Very beautiful black and white drama made early in the auteur’s career. Solid piece of work more than deserving of a Criterion Blu-ray. (A-)
-
An overlooked gem. No more than a well-acted and spryly directed love triangle tale... which, in Truffaut's hands, is more than enough. In fact, it's not far from flawless.
-
Eminent man of letters, middle aged, flabby, married with child(ren), has affair with implausibly stunning younger and less learned woman. It's a story that launched a thousand novels, screenplays and TV series. Le Peau Douce broke scandalous ground in its day, but, as with the last few times I encountered this plot in any form, I was not infrequently bored.
However, Truffaut has a merciless eye for the small ways in which people hurt: throwing away an unsent note telling someone they mean more than the world to you, silently feeling neglected although you know very well that a person has things they need to do, a tsunami of apologies the second you've heard yourself say something bad... there are…
-
Quite possibly the most mature (but still darkly funny) film about fucking around I've ever seen.