Taking part in a poll on ICM for the best movies of 1981,I began looking on Amazon UK for DVDs from the year. Already making plans to look at French cinema from the year,I was pleased to find a François Truffaut creation,which led to me going next door.
The plot:
Working as a teacher in a small town, Bernard Coudray keeps events that happened in his past to himself,with Bernard pushing any questions aside from his wife Arlette and their young son Thomas. Seeing new neighbours moving in next door,the Coudray's decide to go and greet them. Welcomed in by Philippe Bauchard,Bernard begins to fear that he can't keep his past secret,when he is greeted by Philippe's wife Mathilde,who was Bernard's first ever love.
View on the film:
Supplementing the feature with informative extras, Artificial Eye delivers a classy transfer,with the image and soundtrack being clean,and the subtitles moving at a readable speed.
Mentioning in the commentary that they both "clicked" the moment they met François Truffaut,Fanny Ardant (who got married to Truffaut) and Gérard Depardieu both give sparkling performances as Bernard Coudray and Mathilde Bauchard. Afraid of looking back into the past, Depardieu gives Bernard a fragile calm which erupts as he begins welcoming the memories of the past. Being more at ease than Bernard, Fanny Ardant brims Mathilde with a quiet,open confidence,that reveals itself in Mathilde's attempts to get Bernard to open up to Arlette about his past.
Keeping track of their decade spanning relationship,co-writer/(with Suzanne Schiffman and Jean Aurel) director François Truffaut & cinematographer William Lubtchansky continue expanding on Truffaut's stylish tracking shots,via the tracking shots here elegantly carrying the passage of time between the couple. Striking an abrasive melancholy final note,Truffaut builds towards the final encounter with Georges Delerue's great "suspense" score gradually gaining ground in the romance.Inspired by the Tristan and Iseult,the screenplay by Truffaut/ Schiffman and Aurel delicately piece together the lingering love that Bernard wants to keep in the past,as the woman next door,opens the door to Bernard's past love.
The plot:
Working as a teacher in a small town, Bernard Coudray keeps events that happened in his past to himself,with Bernard pushing any questions aside from his wife Arlette and their young son Thomas. Seeing new neighbours moving in next door,the Coudray's decide to go and greet them. Welcomed in by Philippe Bauchard,Bernard begins to fear that he can't keep his past secret,when he is greeted by Philippe's wife Mathilde,who was Bernard's first ever love.
View on the film:
Supplementing the feature with informative extras, Artificial Eye delivers a classy transfer,with the image and soundtrack being clean,and the subtitles moving at a readable speed.
Mentioning in the commentary that they both "clicked" the moment they met François Truffaut,Fanny Ardant (who got married to Truffaut) and Gérard Depardieu both give sparkling performances as Bernard Coudray and Mathilde Bauchard. Afraid of looking back into the past, Depardieu gives Bernard a fragile calm which erupts as he begins welcoming the memories of the past. Being more at ease than Bernard, Fanny Ardant brims Mathilde with a quiet,open confidence,that reveals itself in Mathilde's attempts to get Bernard to open up to Arlette about his past.
Keeping track of their decade spanning relationship,co-writer/(with Suzanne Schiffman and Jean Aurel) director François Truffaut & cinematographer William Lubtchansky continue expanding on Truffaut's stylish tracking shots,via the tracking shots here elegantly carrying the passage of time between the couple. Striking an abrasive melancholy final note,Truffaut builds towards the final encounter with Georges Delerue's great "suspense" score gradually gaining ground in the romance.Inspired by the Tristan and Iseult,the screenplay by Truffaut/ Schiffman and Aurel delicately piece together the lingering love that Bernard wants to keep in the past,as the woman next door,opens the door to Bernard's past love.