Francois Truffaut Biography Quotes 13 Report mistakes

Early Life and Formation
Francois Truffaut was born on February 6, 1932, in Paris. His childhood was marked by instability, frequent truancy, and a fervent refuge in books and cinema. He took his stepfather's surname, Truffaut, and discovered the Cinematheque Francaise, where Henri Langlois's programming introduced him to a vast history of film. As a teenager he started film clubs and wrote program notes, already displaying the zeal that would soon define him. The pivotal figure of his youth was critic and mentor Andre Bazin, who recognized his intelligence and passion. During a troubled stint in the French army, Truffaut went absent without leave and was briefly jailed; Bazin intervened to help secure his release and guided him back toward a life in criticism and filmmaking.

From Critic to Nouvelle Vague
By the early 1950s Truffaut was writing for Cahiers du Cinema under Bazin's patronage, joining Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer, and Jacques Rivette in challenging the prevailing "tradition of quality". His 1954 essay "A Certain Tendency of the French Cinema" was a manifesto for personal, director-led filmmaking and helped cement the "auteur" idea. He began directing shorts, including the widely noticed Les Mistons (1957), while absorbing lessons from American directors he admired, notably Alfred Hitchcock and Howard Hawks. The energy around Cahiers, the Cinematheque, and a new generation of critics turned filmmakers formed the matrix of what became the French New Wave.

Breakthrough and the Antoine Doinel Cycle
Truffaut's feature debut, The 400 Blows (1959), was an international sensation. A compassionate, semi-autobiographical portrait of adolescent rebellion, it introduced the character Antoine Doinel and the actor who would become Truffaut's on-screen alter ego, Jean-Pierre Leaud. The film won Best Director at Cannes and made Truffaut a central figure of modern cinema. He returned to Doinel over two decades: the short Antoine and Colette (1962, part of Love at Twenty), Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1970), and Love on the Run (1979). Through these films, often featuring Claude Jade as Christine, he traced the uneasy evolution from youth to adulthood, crafting one of cinema's most intimate longitudinal portraits.

Expanding Range
Truffaut followed his debut with daring shifts in tone. Shoot the Piano Player (1960), photographed by Raoul Coutard and starring Charles Aznavour, blended melancholy and playfulness. Jules and Jim (1962), adapted with Jean Gruault and starring Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner, and Henri Serre, celebrated romantic freedom while acknowledging its costs and became a touchstone of the New Wave. He alternated genres and moods: The Soft Skin (1964), a coolly observed adultery drama; Fahrenheit 451 (1966), his English-language film with Oskar Werner and Julie Christie; The Bride Wore Black (1968) and Mississippi Mermaid (1969), stylized thrillers with Bernard Herrmann and Georges Delerue's music amplifying his sensibility; Two English Girls (1971), an intimate period piece; The Wild Child (1970), in which Truffaut himself played Dr. Itard; Day for Night (1973), a love letter to filmmaking in which he acted as director Ferrand; Small Change (1976), a humane mosaic of childhood; The Green Room (1978), a meditation on memory and loss; The Last Metro (1980), starring Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu amid the Occupation; The Woman Next Door (1981), a tragic suburban romance with Fanny Ardant and Depardieu; and his final film, Confidentially Yours (1983).

Methods and Collaborators
Truffaut's films were built through enduring partnerships. He founded Les Films du Carrosse to safeguard creative independence. He worked closely with screenwriter Suzanne Schiffman and with Jean Gruault on key adaptations. Georges Delerue's music became a signature element of his sound world; Nestor Almendros and Raoul Coutard were vital to the elegance and vitality of his images. Actors formed a repertory: beyond Leaud and Jade, he frequently collaborated with Jeanne Moreau, Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu, Isabelle Adjani, Fanny Ardant, Charles Aznavour, Oskar Werner, and Julie Christie. Even when experimenting with genre, he favored clarity of performance, emotional directness, and a belief that cinema is, above all, an art of faces and feelings.

Ideas, Style, and Influence
Truffaut balanced cinephile erudition with accessibility. He insisted that personal vision and popular storytelling were not opposites. His recurring themes include the volatility of love, the resilience and vulnerability of children, the intersection of imagination and everyday life, and the consolations of art. He explored the moral education of his protagonists and the ethics of looking, often acknowledging the camera within the story. His book Hitchcock/Truffaut (1966), compiled from marathon interviews with Alfred Hitchcock with the assistance of Helen Scott, became a cornerstone of film scholarship, shaping how directors and critics discuss craft, suspense, and authorship.

International Reach and Public Persona
Truffaut's cinephile diplomacy made him a bridge between cultures. He defended embattled institutions like the Cinematheque Francaise during political crises and championed neglected filmmakers in criticism and programming. In 1977 he acted for Steven Spielberg in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a widely seen testament to his stature beyond France. His early camaraderie with Jean-Luc Godard eventually fractured, most publicly after Godard's harsh critique of Day for Night; the break symbolized divergent paths within the New Wave, but it did not diminish Truffaut's commitment to rigorous, heartfelt filmmaking.

Personal Life
In 1957 Truffaut married Madeleine Morgenstern, daughter of distributor Ignace Morgenstern, a connection that also gave him logistical support for his early productions. They had two daughters, Laura and Eva, before divorcing in the mid-1960s. He later shared his life with actress Fanny Ardant, with whom he had a daughter, Josephine. A passionate reader, he revered Balzac and often wove literary references into his films. His sets were known for discipline tempered by warmth, and colleagues frequently described him as both exacting and generous.

Later Career, Honors, and Legacy
Day for Night won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, expanding his renown in the United States. The Last Metro earned a sweep of Cesar Awards, including Best Film and Best Director, confirming his place in French cultural life. Isabelle Adjani's performance in The Story of Adele H. drew international acclaim, and his collaborations with Deneuve, Depardieu, and Ardant helped define a generation of French screen performance. Truffaut died on October 21, 1984, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, from a brain tumor, aged 52. He was buried in Montmartre Cemetery in Paris. His influence endures through filmmakers who prize the intimate, humanist, and self-aware cinema he championed, and through the lives of viewers who find in his films a faithful map of youth, love, work, and the stubborn hope that art can make life more legible.

Our collection contains 13 quotes who is written by Francois, under the main topics: Wisdom - Justice - Love - Art - Movie.

Other people realated to Francois: Alfred Hitchcock (Director), Jean Renoir (Director), Nicolas Roeg (Director), Jacqueline Bisset (Actress), Robert Bresson (Director), Agnes Varda (Director), Bob Balaban (Actor), Roger Corman (Producer)