Antoine Doinel: The Truffaut Hero

I've been immersed in the films of Francois Truffaut lately but the most notable films I've been viewing by him have to do with his alter ego Antoine Doinel. The films that include Truffaut's famous character are "The 400 Blows", "Antoine and Collette", "Stolen Kisses", "Bed and Board", and "Love on the Run".

Perhaps the most famous film of all of these is "The 400 Blows" which shows Doinel as a young boy who gets into constant trouble and has to deal with his sometimes abusive parents and school masters. In the film Doinel is a boy who cannot be held down or conformed into the type of person he's supposed to be, it leads him to a path of rebellion which soon plants him into a reform school. The film ends in what is one of the most famous closing shots in film history, that of Doinel who has just escaped the school and runs all the way to the edge of the ocean. He looks back at the camera and the film freezes on a close up of his face. Truffaut could've ended the story right there letting the audience make up their own minds on what would become of young Doinel but he had more plans for our hero.

The next film "Antoine and Colette" is a short which shows Antoine now a young man who lives and works independently. It is here Truffaut introduces for the first time one of Antoine's many love interests, her name is Colette. Antoine is the one who loves Colette but all through the film we get the sense that she thinks only of him as a friend. Even though the film has many moments of charming humour and sweetness, it ends on a sad note with Colette showing up with another man and leaving Antoine in an awkward state alone at her place with her parents. It's a somewhat poignant statement of unrequited love. This film also introduces Doinel working in a record making factory which was the first in what would become a running gag of his many odd jobs.

The next film of Doinel's adventures is "Stolen Kisses" which may be the most lighthearted and amusing tale of all of Truffaut's films. Here Doinel is dishonorably discharged from the army and soon becomes a night clerk at a hotel although he doesn't stay there long, he soon gets involved in a detective agency. This also where we get to meet Christine the recent girl of Antoine's affection. Antoine loves Christine but she does play hard to get probably because she is more mature, but when Antoine is assigned to go undercover at a shoe store for a man who wants to know why his employees don't like him, he falls for the bosses wife whom Antoine describes as pure perfection. After a brief encounter with the wife he soon decides to be with Christine and the film ends on a very curious note when the young couple are approached by a man who throughout the film had been following Christine. He confesses his love for her which leads the couple perplexed. Christine says "He's mad" which leads Antoine to say "He must be". They walk off.

The next film is "Bed and Board" which finds Antoine now married to Christine. Antoine now has his own business dying flowers and Christine teaches the violin to some of the kids in the neighbourhood. We see the couple are happy and in love and Christine soon becomes pregnant and they have a son. Antoine's business fails and he gets a job at a manufacturing company where he gets to play with models. It's here where he begins an affair with a Japanese woman which leads to a break up with Christine. Soon Antoine becomes bored with his fling and wants Christine back. The film ends with a touching reconciliation over the phone. This apparently was supposed to be Truffaut's final Doinel film but ten years later he had one more story to tell....

"Love on the Run" now finds Doinel approaching middle age, he is divorcing Christine and is now in love with a much younger woman named Sabine. Antoine has become a published author and has written a book about his many romances with women which brings his former flame Colette back into his life. The film contains many flashbacks of past films as Antoine tries to piece together and examine his many loves and losses. The film ends happily with Antoine hopefully now with his one true love.

For any fan of Truffaut, the Antoine Doinel series is important to view. I can't quite pick which one is my favorite even though I was a little disappointed with "Love on the Run" which was filmed late in Truffaut's career and just seemed to be a brief summation of his alter ego character. The flashbacks seemed distracting and didn't really move the film forward, and as a fan of Christine I was upset to see the couple getting a divorce. Christine (played by Claude Jade in the three films) seemed to be the one who had Antoine's number, she was the one who understood him the best, we saw that at the very beginning in "Stolen Kisses" and could see the hurt when he betrayed her in "Bed and Board". However I'm not knocking the film, it is great entertainment and I especially liked the end which is very romantic and sweet.

It's the romantic in Antoine Doinel that makes him a character to root for, he's constantly looking for love which can redeem him after he acts like a jerk sometimes. I could see a lot of Truffaut in this character even though I admit I know very little about what the man was like. Perhaps the one that can be separated from the rest is "The 400 Blows" which is less about Antoine's love life and more about his childhood. That film probably stands with Ozu's "I was Born But...", Spielberg's "E.T." and Truffaut's own "Small Change" as one of the best films about the world of children. "Stolen Kisses" seems to be Truffaut in his element, I think it is perhaps the best film that shows just the kind of man Antoine will be and probably shows off his charm the best. The ambiguous ending is sort of a foreshadow of the love life Antoine is destined to have. "Bed and Board" is a film I think is sorely underrated, it's a tale of young love and early marriage. Truffaut becomes very inventive the moment Christine learns of Antoine's affair, it's a striking image when Antoine comes home to find Christine dolled up to look Japanese, and is another example of Tuffaut's use of image to tell the story.

"Bed and Board" also has one of the most poignant moments in the whole Doinel series when Christine gets in to a cab and says good bye to Antoine, he moves to her and says "You are my sister, my daughter, my mother." Christine says back "I wanted to be your wife". It's a heartbreaking moment, and Christine could've gone out of Antoine's life forever after that scene, but Truffaut brings her back with a sweet reconciliation.

Antoine Doinel is portrayed in all five films by Truffaut favorite Jean-Pierre Leaud who became a primary face in the world of french new wave. He appeared in many other Truffaut films notably "Day for Night" where he portrays a young actor and Truffaut is the director. You get the sense in that film the bond the two had for eachother, it is probably one of the greatest actor/director partnerships ever assembled. Leaud's gift in Doinel is simply not just showing he's a scoundrel but showing him as a sympathetic somewhat naive romantic, who becomes someone we want to root for and someone who deserves his happy ending.

I call Antoine Doinel Truffaut's hero because he seems to be someone Truffaut himself can root for. His love of life and wanting something more can sometimes become a selfish pursuit but he has the courage to look for it, which is something to be admired, it's the romantic in him and on a personal note I'd like to think there's a little of it in me.