Season

Barbican Film’s Directorspective for April, and continuing into May, focuses on the writer, critic and director François Truffaut; one of the key figures on the French cinematic landscape in the second half of the 20th Century and the instigator of the innovative movement, nouvelle vague. This season presents many of Truffaut’s major works, from his first feature film in 1959, the autobiographical childhood story Les Quatre Cents Coups (The 400 Blows), through to Finally, Sunday! (Vivement Dimanche), completed shortly before his death in 1984. ‘I want a film to express either the joy of making cinema or the anguish of making cinema’ said Truffaut, and these humanistic films reflect the passion of his words.

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Ticket prices

Standard: £7.50 online (£9.50 full price)

Barbican Members: £6.50 online (£7.50 full price)

Concessions: £7.50

Under 15: £4.50

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Programme

Sunday 12 April

2.00pm - The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups) (PG) (France 1959 Dir. François Truffaut 93 min)

Truffaut’s landmark autobiographical film, in which a teenager cuts loose from his oppressive home and school to roam the streets of Paris, marked the director’s transition from film critic to filmmaker, and with it his membership of a ‘new wave’ of French cinema. The hand-held and sweeping camera work portraying a grittier reality was a revolution and caused a storm on release - a truer translation of the title from the French idiom would be ‘raising hell’.

In French with English subtitles The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups) is on limited release at the Barbican from Fri 10 April, see web for details.

Sunday 19 April

2.00pm - Jules et Jim (PG) (France 1962 François Truffaut 105 min)

When best friends Jules (Oscar Werner) and Jim (Henri Serre) meet the beautiful and wild Catherine (Jeanne Moreau), both fall in love with her and from that moment their three lives become entwined. Truffaut’s classic tale of a ménage à trois that breaks no hearts is truly enchanting and rode high on the crest of the 1960s French nouvelle vague – it has been a classic ever since.

In French with English subtitles

Sunday 26 April

1.30pm - Fahrenheit 451 (PG) (UK 1966 Dir. François Truffaut 112 min)

Truffaut came to swinging London in 1966 to adapt Ray Bradbury’s novel about a futuristic society in which books have been banned. A young fireman, whose job it is to burn the printed word, rebels against his totalitarian leaders. Fahrenheit 451 boasts superb performances (especially from Julie Christie and Cyril Cusack), stunning photography by Nicolas Roeg, and a beguiling score by Bernard Herrmann. A key and exciting piece of ‘60s filmmaking.

Sunday 3 May

2.00pm - L’Enfant Sauvage (PG) (France 1969 Dir. François Truffaut 84 min)

Truffaut’s evocative story of an 18th Century French scientist’s attempts to educate a boy that he finds roaming in a forest was completed in 1969 and hailed by critics worldwide. In French with English subtitles

Sunday 10 May

2.00pm - Day for Night (La nuit Américaine) (PG) (France 1973 Dir. François Truffaut 115 min)

A celebration of Truffaut’s greatest love - the joy of filmmaking. A French film director (played by Truffaut himself) is trying to make an American-financed romantic story called Meet Pamela, but his problems with stars, producers and technicians are endless. Day for Night provides an exuberant, behind-the-scenes insight into the pains and pleasures of the art of film.

In French with English subtitles

Sunday 17 May

1.30pm - The Last Metro (Le dernier métro) (PG) (France 1980 Dir. François Truffaut 131 min)

During the Nazi occupation of Paris, an actress (the exquisite Catherine Deneuve) fights to keep her theatre open, whilst hiding her Jewish husband in the basement. She mounts a new play which she hopes will be an artistic and commercial success. A glorious back-stage look at the world of theatre during a traumatic period, with wonderful performances by Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu and Jean Poiret.

In French with English subtitles

Sunday 24 May

2.00pm - The Woman Next Door (La femme d’à côté) (15) (France 1981 Dir. François Truffaut 105 min)

Gérard Depardieu and Fanny Ardant star in this story of a happily married couple with new next-door neighbours. However, when the foursome meet, they realise that the wife of one couple and the husband of the other are former lovers. Unable to resist desire, and yearning to recapture their tempestuous relationship, they are soon off for steamy afternoons in local hotels.

In French with English subtitles

Sunday 31 May

2.00pm - Finally, Sunday! (Vivement Dimanche) (PG) (France 1983 Dir. François Truffaut 110 min)

Starring Fanny Ardant and Jean-Louis Trintignant, Truffaut’s final feature film is a Hitchcockian comedy thriller about a businessman who is wanted for murder and goes into hiding. With glistening black and white imagery by master cinematographer Nestor Almendros and a vivacious performance by Fanny Ardant – Truffaut’s partner in his final years, with whom he had a daughter in 1983, the year before he died.

In French with English subtitles