User Reviews

The army life just wasn't made for you, after three years of detention they're all through, you're discharged from a shared cell, you get a job in a hotel, you find Christine, who you continue to pursue. A night porter's not the perfect role in truth, but it creates an opportunity to sleuth, as a private detective, you need to keep your perspective, it's a challenge for disoriented youth. As a spy inside a shoe shop you observe, the owners sexy wife you have to serve, there's an age gap but connection, that results in an inspection, forces you to make your next, career move. You get called out, to fix the telly of Christine, it's fair to say that a repair job's not your dream, you don't really have a clue, where you're going, what to do, but there's a chance, you've caught the girl, in your crossbeam.

An often hilarious continuation of Antoine Doinel's life, leaves you reflecting on similar scenarios in your own formative years. Great performances and great direction.

"Stolen Kisses" is about Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud, in an exquisite performance), part of a three-film cycle about this young man who is trying to figure out life, love, and where and with whom he belongs.

In the beginning of the film, Antoine is dishonorably discharged from the army and thus his job hunt begins. He's really not very good as a gift-wrapper, or as the night watchman at a hotel, or as a private detective. The detective job takes up most of the film. He is dispatched to work undercover in a shoe shop to find out why nobody likes the boss. He falls head over heels for the boss' stunningly beautiful wife Fabienne. We also see Antoine dealing with his on-again, off-again relationship with his girlfriend Christine, who wants him when he doesn't want her, and vice versa.

Accompanied by a beautiful music score and set in '60s Paris, "Stolen Kisses" is a whimsical, sometimes cynical film about different levels of love (often existing in one relationship), the search for self, and for loving the unattainable. The follow-up is "Bed and Board."

After being discharged from the army for insubordination, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) visits his former girlfriend Christine Darbon (Claude Jade), and her father finds a temporary job of night watchman for Antoine in a hotel. The naive Antoine is deceived by a private eye in his first night shift, and fired on the next morning. The investigator invites the clumsy Antoine to work in his company, where he is assigned for some minor jobs, until he has to investigate why the owner of a shoes store, Mr. Georges Tabard (Michel Lonsdale), is detested by his employees. Meanwhile Antoine falls in love for the gorgeous Mrs. Fabienne Tabard (Delphine Seyrig).

"Baisers Volés" is a delightful romantic comedy of François Truffault. Using his alter-ego, Antoine Doinel, this movie pictures the romantic and very funny adventures of this character in Paris with prostitutes, with his girlfriend and with his married passion. The soundtrack, with song "Que reste-t-il de nos amours?" of Léo Chauliac, is simply wonderful. This classic story is still charming and not dated almost forty years later. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Beijos Roubados" ("Stolen Kisses")

This is absolutely my favourite Truffaut film. Being a film which is based on real events in Truffaut's life (like most of his films), this film shows who Truffaut liked to be (looked at). The charismatic Jean-Pierre Léaud completes this image perfectly. The wonderful soundtrack makes it even better.

Some might say that this film is less revolutionary than his nouvelle vague stuff, but this film is much more effective and up-to-date. It is the funniest and most interesting part of the Doinel-series, which, sadly, had to be finished with the worthless L'amour en fuite.

Watching this film makes you understand what Truffaut thinks about himself, and the 'family-business'of movie making. Watching this film combined with La nuit Américaine, and you'll know what Truffaut really is about. This film steals more than your kisses. It might steal you heart.

Stolen Kisses (for me) has got to be one the most beautiful film ever made. All of the films in the Antoine Doinel cycle are brilliant (even the half-baked "Love On The Run" is still quite enjoyable). But "Stolen Kisses" hits a spot, which films seem to never hit. It captures an age of awkwardness that seems to be ignored...the early twenties. Not like a typical high school or after college film (ie: "Risky Business" or "Graduate"), "Stolen Kisses" is about learning the survival skills to make it to adulthood (whether it's keeping a job, or making it in love). Antoine Doinel is in the third cycle of the series ("400 Blows" and "Love At Twenty/ Antoine And Collette" being it's predecessor), and Antoine has just been dishonourably discharged from the army for being of unstable character. Antoine haphazzardly begins to go through jobs, trying to find his nitch in life, while being obsessed with love. He begins as a nightwatchman of a hotel, to being a private detective of Blady's, which puts him as a planted spy in Monsieur Tobard's Shoe Shop, and finally settling down as an accident prone TV Repair man. Antoine is the awkward anti-hero youth of the sixties. During the 68' Paris riots (which were unbelievably carrying on during the filming), the youth of France had a sort of displaced position in the work force. Antoine (superbly played by Jean-Pierre Leaud) typlifies this kind of youth. He is full of nervous energy, politically working class, is love lorn, and uneducated. He is full of human qualities that are real and relateable. He lies, he loves, he fails, and he succeeds. He is just as much as the "everyman" of France, as Jimmy Stewart was in America. But interestingly, where he has once resembled director Francois Truffaut in the earlier works, he now was metamorphasising into Jean-Pierre Leaud's character, but resembling Truffaut more in look. Antoine Doinel was never meant to be just Truffaut, but Leaud as well. And the confusion of this identity is brilliantly displayed as Antoine confirms his identity by manically reciting his name in a mirror, displaying his search for identity to the point of near madness. The beautiful Clade Jade gives an underated performance as the hip, bourgoise student, that makes Antoine's obsessiveness seem somehow justified. The girl that is loved best by Antoine, when out of reach. The film also has a theme, about the differing strengths of love. When Antoine is in love with Christine, she doesn't love him. When Antoine loves Fabienne (the shoe shop's owner's wife), Christine is in love with Antoine. Every character is immersed in a love triangle. And asks the question, "Does love really ever exist on an equal basis?" But aside from the romantic cynicism, also lays some of the most romantic cinematic moments in history. The scene in which we follow up the stairs to find Antoine and Christine laying in bed peacefully, and the morning after, where Antoine purposes to Christne (with what looks like a fancy spoon or bottle opener, taking the place of a real ring?) is one of the most poetic moments in film history. The music score is fantastic as well as the cinematography gentle and sweet. For some, the ending is somewhat confusing and abrupt. But only shows, that the man that now stalks Christine with such passion, is now looked at by Antoine as resembling his once passionate feelings for her, that no longer burn with the same intensity. A bittersweet opening to the followup "Bed And Board". This film is a classic on all accounts!!! A must see, and my favourite film of ALL TIME!!! I rate it a 15 out of 10!!!

This is an odd movie--not bad, but rather odd. The main character is a bit of a bumbler that seems to screw up most jobs. He manages to get thrown out of the army, lose the job as a doorman as well as that of a private detective. Along the way, he stops to have sex with a couple prostitutes and the wife of one of his clients while working as the detective. Apart from that, as the film begins his obsessive love for his girlfriend, though she seems a bit cold. Later, their feelings for each other seem to flip-flop. At the end, they both seem to have about equally strong feelings about each other--when a strange man comes out of nowhere for the movie's punchline. Does all this sound like a comedy? Well, while it has some mildly humorous moments, I didn't think it was particularly funny and the story just seemed to be lacking a certain something. I kept waiting for it to get better and to have more of a point, but to no avail.

While I really like foreign films, I sometimes am frustrated by the incredibly unfinished style many "great" films possess. While this makes them different from boring and conventional Hollywood fare, sometimes I feel annoyed at what, to me, seems like sloppy writing or the refusal to hire and utilize an editor. I know this all makes me sound like a real nut, but some of Truffaut's movies could use a good editing or re-write--such as this one, Mississippi Mermaid and Confidentially Yours. Others, such as The Wild Child, The Story of Adele H., The Last Metro and Shoot The Pianist, seem much tighter and cohesive.

It amazes me that everybody watch "The 400 Blows", love the film but doesn't have interest in following all the other adventures of Antoine Doinel or people seem to lose track of just five films but prefer to watch all James Bond films. What amazes me even more is that the other films of Antoine appeals more to me than the original one, although I love and rank them on the same level.

In the most comical film of Doinel series "Stolen Kisses", Jean-Pierre Léaud playing his unforgettable character, is discharged from the army and needs to find a new job. He starts as night watchman, something ridiculous happens and then he's out of work. Later, he works as a private investigator, having an unique talent for the job and getting himself involved with some bizarre investigations; and one of them takes him to his new fake job as a stock boy in Mr. Tabard's shoes-shop when this guy wants to know why nobody likes him and Doinel must find the reason. While there, he falls in love with Tabard's wife who also seems obsessed with him; Doinel has other things to investigate and other female interests, and of course he meets Colette and Christine again, women presented in Doinel's other films.

Here's what Truffaut makes: he takes this hard-working character, puts him in strange, humored yet very realistic situations of the day-by-day, brings back some connections of the previous films too and the result is a nice, funny, beautiful film that gives a positive light to Antoine Doinel, a man only trying to survive in the best way he can. It's very surprising how he can manage to do so many things in different lines of work specially if you consider that in "The 400 Blows" he hated school, he hadn't patience to sit and learn, the same thing happen in the beginning of this film, the reason why he was discharged of Army, yet he can do lots of things, a multi task man for all seasons. Truffaut succeeds in doing what Woody Allen sometimes tries so hard to do and that is make something really funny with a sense of realism and absurd going altogether, hand in hand. It's a perfect romantic comedy too, since Doinel is seen chasing women and all (the funniest date he has is with a woman so tall that makes him feel like a midget next to her, this moment can be seen also in "Love on the Run").

Léaud is always brilliant playing the director's alter ego, he's very funny, charming, very good looking. The story is all good with great and hilarious dialogs and insights, unforgettable sequences and plenty of humor. And who could possibly predict that Doinel's life would be THAT good? Certainly not me, not him or anyone else. Here's a surprising and lovely film, and one of the most funniest I've ever seen. 10/10

I watched this film knowing that it was the sequel to Truffaut's the 400 Blows, but I couldn't help doubting that the protagonists for the two movies were one and the same. I know Stolen Kisses takes place nine years after, but something wasn't right. Maybe it was that this film was more comedic, maybe the character was different, maybe the world was different. I don't know. It is like the Antoine of Bizarro World.

Standing by itself, Stolen Kisses is a terrific film about a mediocrity. Antoine can't hold a job, and he can't even hold a woman. He kisses his girlfriend as he would kiss a prostitute - awkward and rough. Upon meeting a private detective (modeled after Andre Bazin - Truffaut's mentor), Antoine gets a job spying on the workers of a shoe store owner who claims everyone hates him. There, he falls into lust with the bosses high-society wife.

At the end of the film, Antoine is forced to compromise and marry his old girlfriend for whom he may or may not feel any true love. The point is that she is there to support him and love him. He is the elevated statue of desire to her just as the shoe store owner's wife was to him.

All in all, this movie is exceedingly well done by the Great Truffaut, but I just couldn't get past the fact that Antoine was the same boy I last saw escaping from a juvenille hall and running to the ocean in a moment of personal victory from a society that didn't really want him. Something in this film did not match up with the previous one.

It is incredible how well this film has held up over the years, and how it continues to fill you with all the spirit of hope and exultation that was part of l'epoque. This is not an overtly political film, though there are passing references to and images of the contemporary demonstrations which would shake France to its core in May of '68. Nonetheless, it captures spectacularly well the revolutionary feel of the times and makes perfectly understandable why Truffaut and Godard would call for the cancellation of the Cannes Festival of 1968. Nothing could go on has it had in the past after May '68, and "Stolen Kisses" itself was a statement of that refusal. The film is perhaps the best political film of the upheaval of that period for at least two reasons: 1) the attitude towards work: Antoine Doinel passes from job to job without a second thought, not worrying himself about a "career," and with a playful attitude that seemed inspired by Guy Debord's slogan of "ne travaillez jamais" ("never work"); 2) the attitude towards life in general: the film reflects that sensibility of the '68 movement that "everything is possible", that life can be lived as one adventure after another (as opposed to the dreary workaday life proffered by the bourgeoisie), that the craziest things can happen to you and that you should be open to taking them into your life (e.g., Christine falling in love with Antoine and vice versa). The lightness of the film is its greatest quality, for it suggests that all those "heavy" structures, physical, psychological, political and societal, can be overcome ("sous les pavés, la plage"/"beneath the pavement lies the beach") and life can be recovered.

Granting for himself a certain allowance for nostalgia, Francois Truffaut set out to continue his Antoine Doinel series with his 1968 film, Stolen Kisses. This time, Truffaut caught up with his alter ego just as he is being discharged from the army, desperately trying to become part of a family, and attempting to build a relationship.

Stolen Kisses would be an interesting departure for Truffaut, as it would represent a deviation from the tightly worked scripts he had used up to that point. After two highly structured screenplays in a row, Truffaut sought a more improvisational take on small events inspired by his own life including his visits to brothels and the end of his military service. The structure of the film was looser than Truffaut had ever used before, but he was more concentrated on who he wanted Antoine Doinel to be. Up until this point, Doinel represented Truffaut almost entirely, in Stolen Kisses though, Truffaut wanted Doinel to be 50% Truffaut and 50% Jean-Pierre Léaud. Jean-Pierre Léaud had brought to the role his unique spirit, expertly bringing Doinel to life in his previous films in the Doinel series, and Truffaut wanted to insert even more of Léaud into the character of Doinel. Inspired by Honoré de Balzac's The Lily of the Valley and a song by a favorite musician, Charles Trenet (Stolen Kisses) Truffaut attempted to create a blend of his own persona and that of the young man he had developed a mentor-like relationship with, collaborator Jean-Pierre Léaud.

Still drawing heavily from his own life, Truffaut began Stolen Kisses with Antoine Doinel being discharged from the military similar to the way Truffaut was discharged. Truffaut was completely humiliated while facing his superiors, each of them knowing he was only being discharged due to Andre Bazin's influence, and although he was desperate to leave the military, he surely could have done without being talked down to in such a way. Being shot with an almost entirely new crew, Stolen Kisses would mark a new endeavor for Truffaut, perhaps that is the reason there was so much nostalgia drizzled throughout the film. Drawing inspiration from Lubitsch and Renoir, Truffaut made a light and comical, yet touching, continuation of Antoine Doinel. Being inspired by a full page ad for a detective agency, which he incorporated into the film as a means for Antoine to discover his new career, Truffaut decided to have Doinel explore the career of a private eye. Truffaut even collaborated with a private eye throughout filming for added realism. Whimsical music opened Stolen Kisses setting the stage for a more lighthearted tone than was present in Antoine and Colette, and certainly, The 400 Blows. In addition to the music being more light and playful, the acting was also much more physical and comedic than I had previously seen in a Truffaut film. Exaggerated gestures and gags reminiscent of silent film canon gave Stolen Kisses a relaxed, yet experimental feel. The rapid cuts and innovative editing techniques proved Truffaut was staying true to the movement he had ushered in.

Even in the lighthearted and comedic moments of Stolen Kisses, it was obvious that Antoine was still searching, desperate to fill an obvious void in his life. Antoine was repeatedly trying with incredible diligence to be accepted into Christine's (Claude Jade) family. Antoine was more intent on being accepted into Christine's family than he was on being accepted by Christine. In one of the dinners that Antoine shared with Christine's parents, he admitted that he did not have a close relationship with his parents. Sensing his need for familial connection, and understanding of their daughter's uncommitted attitude toward Antoine, the Tabard's, Fabienne (Delphine Seyrig) and Georges (Michael Lonsdale) would nurture Antoine in one way or another. Fabienne would often act motherly toward Antoine, often by encouraging him to eat or address his feelings. Georges, too, would help Antoine by finding him work and teaching him how to dress so as to be taken seriously, especially by prospective employers. The love Antoine received from the Tabard's seemed to be exactly what he was searching for, as he desperately wanted to become part of a family. Romantic love also eluded him, as he was unable to gain the courage necessary to express himself to Christine and be honest with her of his desire to take their friendship to another level. Antoine even struggled with the various prostitutes he would attempt sexual relations with, making it clear that Antoine's longing was for much more than carnal urges. Perpetually lost, we see Antoine's immaturity and longing through the funniest moments in the film. Truffaut expertly shows the emasculation of Antoine bookended with lighthearted comedy in order to better feel the multiplicity of Antoine's pain. Not only does Antoine feel like less of a man because of his difficulties with women sexually, but he also feels like less of a person because of his difficulties with maintaining a job and a relationship. This relates back to Antoine's struggle with his parents and his troubled early life. Antoine has traversed most of his life without someone to guide him and without proper examples of how to grow and foster relationships with people. At this stage of his life, Antoine can be guided, like the Tabard's attempt to guide him, but he will not know what to do at each successive step because he has never seen each step play out. Without a model from which to draw inspiration, Antoine is endlessly meandering throughout existence desperate for someone to take the journey with him and help him learn about life along the way. Love is a driving force for Antoine, he longs for the love in adulthood that he was robbed of through childhood. Antoine seems to possess a romantic conviction that love can overcome the tragedy he has experienced, and by finding someone to love and to love him in return he can change his meandering life into one of purpose. Just as Truffaut struggled to shake his own regretful childhood and to develop the strength to give himself in friendships, love, and cinema, we see Antoine attempt to withstand his upbringing by learning how to develop relationships and navigate the working world, a struggle not unknown to any of us.

There were three films in this series, beginning with the less well-known, but excellent "Soft Skin" -- a beautiful title in English, but even more beautiful in French. "Stolen Kisses" -- remembered now almost thirty years since I first saw it -- tops the others. "Bed and Board" is the third; amusing, even wise, in a way, but not nearly in the same league with either "Skin" or "Kisses."

This film is one of a handful which confirmed me as a life-long cinephile; first seen in my early twenties. It's Truffaut's happiest film, which might damn it to many people in a way, prevent it from being regarded as a great film. Who cares? It's tremendously amusing, the young actors are beautiful to watch (women may find other leading men more handsome than Leaud, but men won't other young ladies more beautiful than Claude Jade, to my mind). But -- even better -- this baby moves. It's lively and full of great, odd plot developments. It's easy to miss the sheer genius of the writing, the filming -- tremendous inventiveness is evident in both. This film led the way; it's as wild as some of Woody Allen's goofier earlier films, but without anywhere near the level of neuroticism. I could go on and on. I've seen it at least six or seven times. There's nothing else like it, truly. A few of Alan Rudolph's films begin to explore this vein a bit, but then they came much later. "Stolen Kisses" -- a beautiful film for young lovers to see, for a first date, perhaps, and for more mature lovers, too. For everybody, young and old. A perfect Valentines' Day film, but not mere fluff, either. There's Paris, women's shoes, detectives, lots of scheming, a triumph over shyness, lots of flirting, and plenty of stolen kisses, of many varieties, including a few to be kept and sealed away forever.

Review In A Nutshell:

Stolen Kisses is about a young man who was discharged from the army due to constantly being absent without permission, and has first taken up a job as a night watchmen before eventually delving into the profession of a private detective.

It was truly stupid of me to start off with this film, as I have found out after watching the film that this is the third film of a trilogy that started with The 400 Blows about the character, Antoine Doinel. This is the main reason why I felt kind of slightly detached with the character and not comprehensively understand the intentions that Truffaut was trying to push with this film. Luckily though, I still was able to enjoy this film as I found the protagonist and the adventures he goes on, to be highly fun and quirky. I loved watching him attempting to succeed in areas that are clearly not meant for him, and at the same time watch him becoming distracted by the women in his life, and how they affect his "career". The most interesting was definitely the relationship between him and Catherine, as they both don't seem to agree on their current feelings for one another that it becomes complicated to have things run smoothly for them. Truffaut doesn't romanticize the relationship though; he keeps it highly respectable but still retains that sense of quirkiness, which I also found in the previous film I have seen from the director, Jules and Jim. As I have said, the film's protagonist came off intriguing as Truffaut handled it in a very interesting way, and definitely someone I would love to explore more deeply.

One can justify that this film is a romantic comedy as those elements are definitely clear when watching this film, but I personally felt like there was more to it than just that. I felt that the film was trying to say something about "useless" men that have been ejected from the army, to show us how difficult it is to make a living for yourself and to feel incompetent to society, but it feels buried deep into the film that could be easily accessed if one has seen the two films that preceded this. The film also explores the idea of obsession, though not as dire as what Hitchcock presented in Vertigo, but in a comedic and slightly more realistic kind of way. I am not sure whether or not Truffaut was conscious when he has made the reference, but I do see some of the resemblance, then again this may just be me. Nevertheless, these themes don't interfere with the tone and style that Truffaut was going for, and can still be enjoyed at a superficial level.

The film's camera work was satisfying, creating that light and comedic mood that makes the film feel easily accessible and digestible. There were times, particularly during the shots that capture Antoine walking around the streets of Paris, where the filmmakers are trying to suggest that sense of monitoring; like as if someone is watching your every move. Even by the end of the film, a character who suddenly reveals he to be a watcher has shown us that one can't truly be safe. The film's score was quite pleasant to listen to, particularly the opening track as it creates this warm, sweet feeling that I haven't felt about in a song played during a film for a very long time. The orchestral score on the other hand plays out the same feelings in me as the opening track, light and sweet, doesn't try to play with your emotions but instead highlights the personality of the characters and the comedic tone of the film. One can't help but grin a little when little moments happen in the film and some of the commendation belongs to the film's music.

The acting in this film was wonderful, boasting a strong performance from Jean-Pierre Leaud. He played his character with such ease, that I can't help but feel impressed, as other actors who play characters like this try to come off as quirky and funny but end up either overwhelming or underwhelming in their performance. Leaud was able to incorporate comedy in almost all areas of his performance, physical and verbal, with some showing subtlety while others are plain obvious, but the lack of subtlety in some of his physical performance doesn't hurt his performance in the film, at times it actually makes it funnier that he has shown such commitment in making his movements look and feel hilarious. This is primarily Leaud's film so the other actors were only present to support our perceptions of the character, so I would leave my critique for the other actors in my second viewing of the film.

Stolen Kisses is a delightful film from Truffaut that definitely would have benefited me if I have seen the films that preceded it.

This movie has not passed the test of time.

It is very amateurish.

The dialogues are unnatural, for those who know how the french speak.

The locations are dirty, nothing is refurbished, you would say it is a communist country. Well no, it was France, and it is still France today, in many.

There is not much of a story, just a young man finding it hard to make it in the world of adults. But the way he acts, reacts, is so strange, he has some kind of love affair with a woman, and he wrote her 16 letters in a week, not all pleasant ones, but when they speak to each other, they behave like they were strangers.

I think I never saw a really well made movie from Truffaut.

They all have bad acting and bad rythm.

An intellectually overrated director at a time the french were searching for a new wave ..

For the role of Christine Darbon, Truffaut cast a nineteen-year-old actress, Claude Jade, who had impressed him in the stage play Enrico IV. Truffaut had been "completely taken by her beauty, her manners, her kindness, and her joie de vivre." Her polite upbringing and charismatic girl-next-door quality, as far as Truffaut was concerned, made Claude Jade perfect for the role of the pure-hearted Christine who would eventually win Antoine's heart.

As Christine, Claude Jade is as cute as a button and her scenes are often the most charming ones in the film. Her introductory scene, stepping out of the Parisian night appearing like an angel to wave shyly at Antoine through a glass wall, is a delight. Later, Christine attempts to guess Antoine's latest job, amusingly tossing out way-off-the-mark guesses like cab driver or water taster. It is a ticklish scene but also hints that Christine, as of yet, doesn't think so highly of Antoine's employable skills. By the film's end, Antoine has become a TV repairman. He has been holding a grudge against Christine, so she wins him back in a fetching manner. She calls his company for service even as she is removing a component from her TV. The company sends Antoine, who is then forced to stay for hours trying to fix an irreparable TV.

The best romantic scene in the film, however, is a quaint breakfast scene one morning in Christine's kitchen. Christine is busy teaching Antoine how to butter toast. Antoine, for his part, wishes to pose a question to her. Too embarrassed to express himself in words, he writes his question on a notepad instead and hands it to her. She immediately writes her reply and hands it back to him. They continue in this manner for a few more exchanges before Antoine withdraws a scissor from a nearby drawer and hangs it on Christine's ring finger. It is a touching and intimate moment between the two young lovers and communicates, without intrusive words, their affection for one another.

Stolen Kisses is a film unlike any other, perhaps because it combines so many elements into such a breezy film experience. Though Francois Truffaut broke into the film industry with his debut The 400 Blows depicting the young, misplaced Antoine Doinel as a youth attempting to find his way amidst the chaos of Paris, Stolen Kisses might be a more mature and understanding film to its protagonist. Like Antoine, Truffaut has grown up.

This adventure follows Antoine's departure from the army and his attempt to find steady work in Paris, that gorgeous and timeless city with the ethereal Sacre Coeur looming in the background. He goes through a number of professions, all of which are completely captivating in their interest to us the audience and Antoine himself. Tying all this together is his constant affection for the girl he left for the army, Christine, who very well may hold the key to his heart.

What is so endlessly fascinating about this film is the stark simplicity Truffaut films it in. Like his previous work, this film has remarkable fluid camera movements as he gives us a breathtaking view of the eternal city and the journey Antoine is on in hopes of discovering his place. We are dropped into various situations such as a small hotel, a private detective agency and a TV repair truck, all of which are Antoine's attempts to find stability in a most unstable of times: Paris, 1968.

What must be said about this remarkable film is that it is at its core a most personal story. Clearly, Antoine represented Truffaut in The 400 Blows and he does here. From adolescence to teen angst to young adulthood, Truffaut has shown us in three examples an everyman many of us can relate to. He is self-conscious, anxious, awkward around women yet tries to do the best he can. In Truffaut's eyes, and ours, this is the source of his innocence and charm.

By the end of The 400 Blows we see young Jean-Pierre Leaud looking out to the sea to an uncertain future after he escaped from juvenile detention.

In Stolen Kisses, we catch up with him as a young adult trying to find a place in life but hopelessly all at sea.

Antoine Doinel plays Jean-Pierre Leaud as geeky, gawky, awkward, and rebellious.

He has been dishonourably discharged from the army. He gets a telling off from his superior office about the youth of today. Antoine pulls funny faces at this point to highlight his nonchalant attitude. Antoine then proceeds to steal his uniform, go back to Paris and have sex with a prostitute.

Antoine then goes to see his on/off girlfriend who he has not written to to for some time when he was at the army. We suspect that she is seeing someone else and we later note that she is also being followed.

Antoine who is uneducated, lacking a lot of skills even common sense haphazardly goes through a series of jobs. He becomes a night- watchman at a hotel which lasts one night because he was blagged by a private detective. Luckily the detective gets him a job at his detective agency. Although he learns some skills he is still inept but he is planted at Tobard's shoe shop as the boss wants to know what his staff think about him. Like the film The Graduate, the boss's older wife has designs for him.

All the time he has this on/off relationship with bourgeois beautiful girlfriend Christine which blows hot and cold. She seems aloof and distant one minute and desires him the next. He also has trouble relating to her, I never understood why he never wrote to her for months when he was in the army. At one point Antoine takes her out to a stakeout when following a magician and leaves her behind at a club.

For someone who was a detective Antoine does not realise that Christine is being stalked by someone else.

The film is a screwball comedy about love and obsession and two young people getting together awkwardly at a time when the young people of France felt displaced.

Again François Truffaut is well served by his alter-ego Antoine Doinel who has the boyish, charming and goofy quality that brings out the humour. His persona is different from The 400 Blows where we felt that he might end up being a petty criminal lost in some underclass.

François Truffaut continues the story of Antoine Doinel, the alter ego of Jean-Pierre Léaud, 9 years after the groundbreaking THE 400 BLOWS (1959), the rebellious boy has reached the adolescence, still rebellious though, he is discharged from his military service for being unruly, the comic vibe is established from the very start by the juxtaposition of the dead-serious officer and a laughter-repressed Antoine, who turns out to be a street-smart young man in spite of a tough childhood, and his parents have been completely evacuated out of his life (without any explanation). The first place he visits is a whorehouse, then stops by his girlfriend Christine Darbon (Jade), but is told she is out on a ski vacation by her genial parents (Ceccaldi and Duhamel), but Truffaut slyly implies that there seems to be something else on Christine's agenda now.

Antoine finds a job as a night porter in a hotel in Paris, thanks to Christine's father's recommendation, a comely Christine visits him one night, she greets him on the new job and seems casually happy but not so enthusiastic. Soon he is fired for being an unwitting helper of a private detective Henri (Harry-Max), who instead introduces him to the new exciting line of business managed by Monsieur Blady (Falcon). Antoine starts his new vocation with great passion although his stalking skill is a far cry from professional. Truffaut's perspicacious insight of urban savvy is brought to the fore in this segment, mainly surrounding two cases, a subtle love triangle about a (closeted) man looking for his magician lover and a more detailed inside-job, where Antoine is assigned to undercover in a shoe shop owned by Georges Tabard (Lonsdale, a great scene-stealer), who wants the agency to find out why he is so disliked by everyone around him, but the irony is that during Georges' loquacious introduction of his background, the reason behind that is pretty crystal-clear. During the course, Antoine is hopelessly having a crush with Georges' wife Fabienne (Seyrig, enigmatic and fabulously seductive), the apotheosis of a woman's sheer perfection. He is torn between his unquenchable fascination to Fabienne and the on-and-off relationship with Christine, which extracts the most vehement outburst in the mirror scenes where Antoine's unfitting characteristic is pungently reflected, with the iterations of self-persuasion and self-boost, to no avail. Eventually after tasting the temptation, which costs him the second job, he reconciles with Christine in the cutesy chapter where he works as a TV repairman, but the uncertainty of his own feelings becomes more pronounced in the coda, where a stalker makes a wanton confession to Christine in the presence of Antoine, both dismiss at him on the spot, but think twice, it is the capriciousness of love and emotions that will certainly puzzle Antoine, and trigger every viewer, to discover what will happen to him and Christine later, aka. in BED & BOARD (1970), approximately after a two-years spell.

STOLEN KISSES is charming in its carefree tempo and disarming in its frankness about whimsical triviality, it is not a major or challenging piece of work from Truffaut, but still scintillates with the profundity of a intelligent life-observer, an obliging humorist and an inspiring filmmaker.

Taking its title from the lyrics of the glorious chanson 'Que reste-t-il de nos amours' of Louis Chauliac and Charles Trenet this gentle, subtle and captivating film must surely rank as one of Truffaut's finest. Actor Jean-Pierre Leaud is not unlike Marmite; one either loves him............ There is no doubting that his portrayal of Truffaut's alter-ego Antoine Doinel is Leaud at his most appealing. I do not really count his performance at the age of fourteen in 'Quatre cent coups' as that is indisputably one of the great child performances on film and Leaud had not yet acquired the mannerisms of adulthood that many find so annoying. In this he plays an aimless dreamer who lands a job in a private detective agency following his 'discharge' from the army. This occupation naturally brings him into contact with some decidedly quirky colleagues and clients notably shoe shop proprietor Tabard who wants to know why none of his staff likes him. He meets the seductive Madame Tabard and gets the sack for mixing business with pleasure. We next see him as a television repairman! The segment with the Tabards is undoubtedly the highlight of the film. Michel Lonsdale is an exceptional actor who never disappoints and is probably most familiar to non-Gallic audiences as the chief investigating officer in 'Day of the Jackal'. What can one say of the divine Delphine Seyrig? One should never make the mistake of confusing actresses with the parts they play but in this she is utterly intoxicating. We also have a tantalising glimpse of Marie-France Pisier who was to feature prominently in the last of the Doinel series 'Love on the Run', to which she contributed the screenplay. Whilst that is probaly the weakest of the lot, made by Truffaut in a desperate attempt to refill the empty coffers, the next episode 'Bed and Breakfast' is very amusing. The film under review is undoubtedly the best of the three 'adult' Doinels. An enchanting piece full of surprises which can be revisited with delight.

The movie focuses an intermezzo in the life of a young guy who is in search of himself and apparently doesn't succeed to find himself from the begin to the end of the intermezzo. His first failure is with the military service. He volunteered by himself (nobody forced him to serve in the army, he thought that it was a possible move) but a few time later, realized that the career in the army had nothing to do with himself and didn't feared to be discharged dishonourably. During the hole intermezzo, he is in love with a girl who doesn't care about him. He experiments several professional activities and fails to succeed in all of them, not because he is stupid, but, rather, because he refuses to play the role that each professional activity demands. The outsider trait of his personality always prevails. This outsider style doesn't lead him to any kind of progress or evolution. He is the same from the begin to the end, and this fact is negative in the sens that he is not an example to be followed by any one who is also in search of himself. The first time I saw baisers volés, more than 45 years ago, I was fascinated by the nouvelle vague and didn't pay attention to the aspects I pointed out here above. Now that I'm more experienced in existential issues, I'm more connected to these aspects. To conclude my critics, I would like to say that the song of Charles Trenet, "Que Reste-t-il de Nos Amours", is much more beautiful and profound than the tribulations of the young outsider Antoine Doinel.

The boy from 400 BLOWS is back and grown-up. This time around Antoine Doinel is on a roll as he romances and misbehaves in adult life. This is a very light weight Truffaut but entertaining enough to put a cheeky smile on your face.

I am not a student of movies. I just came across this movie based on recommendations and rating.

It mostly was interesting to see France as it was 50 years ago.

The humour was all but lacking - the closest possibly being thereference to Hitler's painting style.

Tati is funny and clever. This, not.