Tough love... The Soft Skin (La Peau douce) (1964), BFI Blu-ray, out now!

Another gift from the BFI’s François Truffaut season and a film that only gradually attained the respect that a 91% Rotten Toms score might indicate. Maybe it suffered in comparison with The 400 Blows and Jules et Jim, maybe it was too subtle, a three-hander between a husband, his wife and his lover and maybe some felt the ending was too melodramatic. That conclusion was, however, based on a real event and in wanting to create a film about adultery, the director was looking to show how that moment could happen when three ordinary people are caught up in emotions beyond their control, or, at least, their willingness to control.

 

Another actuality had been Truffaut’s witnessing of a couple kissing so passionately in the back of a taxi that their teeth clashed, that’s not the kiss of a married couple he reasoned (parle pour toi mon ami) and he added it to his “moments” in a script written at speed holed up in one of the posher hotels in Cannes with Jean-Louis Richard. Richard is interviewed on the commentary and is great value in terms of the motivations for making the film, the process and the three remarkable performances. Truffaut was fascinated by Hitchcock, and the latter’s influence is felt in certain aspects of the film, with the Frenchman building up tension and almost freezing time as he does when literary critic Pierre Lachenay (Jean Desailly) meets air hostess Nicole (Françoise Dorléac) in the hotel lift… the tension is palpable, the desire almost too painfully obvious, Nicole almost hiding behind her shopping parcels, flattered by the attentions of the famous man.

 

Elevator discomfort: Françoise Dorléac and Jean Desailly

Richard is full of praise for the extraordinary Dorléac, someone he’d known since she was a teenager, she was only 21 now but so confident and assured as a performer, extrovert and daring in a way her sister, Catherine Denueve, wasn’t. Françoise had just made the action-comedy, That Man from Rio (1964) with Jean-Paul Belmondo, and easily inhabits the complexities of her role as someone who is still discovering themselves. It’s likely that Truffaut was as fascinated with the actor as his camera is and this adds to the portrayal of her attraction and Jean’s willingness to risk everything in pursuit.

 

According to Richard, Jean Desailly was unhappy with the film and felt it killed off his career as he was never again cast as a leading man. He was 43 at the time and perhaps, as Richard suggests, viewed his character too harshly especially as Truffault’s overall direction – especially the editing in the film – took his meaning beyond his performance. That said, we don’t entirely dislike any of the characters, it’s possible to feel sympathy for all three and that’s as intended. Yes, Pierre’s a cheat who “goofs” as Nicole says, but he’s also lost and in crisis before he even meets her and he, may, given time, get over his mid-life wandering eye and calm down to count his blessings.

 

Pierre watches as Nicole dances...

Pierre may feel that his is missing a teeth-clashing relationship with a beautiful young woman but he’s overlooking his successful career, his daughter Sabine (Sabine Haudepin), his apartment in the fashionable 16th arrondissement – Truffault’s own – and most especially his wife Franca played by Nelly Benedetti. Benedetti comes more and more to the fore as the story progresses and is a force to be reckoned with as her character at first suspects and then begins to find out the full extent of her husband’s betrayal. Benedetti, on a point of trivia, was also Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Marie Saint, Raquel Welch and a host of others, dubbing their films into French.

 

We find Pierre and Franca in a rush at the start of the film as the former is about to miss his plane for a conference in Lisbon at which he is to deliver a paper on Balzac and Money. Pierre comes through the door, down the hall and to their sunken living room as he will many times in the film, Truffaut’s home surprisingly perfect for illustrating the depth or family comforts, kitchen diner with a screen that can be pulled up as required, all mod cons.

Nelly Benedetti long-suffers

Pierre is driven by their friend to the airport with lots of those quick cuts setting the action in time and space. He makes it just as they’re about to close the gates and is the last person on the plane, welcomed by a very pretty stewardess as he breathlessly takes his seat. During the flight he notices the girl more and more, sneaking repeated peaks and fascinated by seeing her change from flat shoes to high heels behind the curtain. How much of this creepy male gazing was a reflection of the director’s own situation/his interest in Dorléac is open to conjecture but Pierre is a jowly middle-aged man desiring a woman half his age. There are two occasions in the film when women are harassed by men in the street, it’s unlikely Truffault was unaware of the power relationships.

 

In Lisbon Pierre keeps on seeing Nicole and they are staying at the same hotel. The meet in the lift and he helps her pick up her shopping… Once back in his room he gathers his courage and phones her on the pretext of apologising for not helping more, he tries to arrange a drink and, after calling back, she agrees. They meet the next evening and perhaps start struck, amused by his wealth of knowledge, Nicole allows him into her room.

 

As with Jules et Jim, darkness shrouds deep connections

So begins their affair, with slightly comic attempts by Pierre to spend time with Nicole as he introduces a screening of a documentary about André Gide at a conference in Reims. The locals try to wine and dine him as he tries to escape to join with Nicole. Finally, they escape to a rural guest house but he has spent too long away and on his return, Franca is not only suspicious but beside herself… This is too much emotion for Pierre to deal with and he needs to find out what he wants to do before it is too late.

 

It's a deceptive story with nuanced characters and a prosaic “reality” that hides the indecision of all three characters. It’s subtler than Jules at Jim as it lacks that film’s dynamic interactions, again based on actuality, but it still hits hard as each of us try and keep our eyes on the road driving on to the next appointment.

  

Pierre and Sabine in Truffault's sunken living room

The film is presented in High Definition from a new 2k restoration and comes with a full basket of extras including a 24-page booklet with two fascinating essays: Truffaut’s mirror by Catherine Wheatley and A certain tendency: Truffaut as film critic by Kieron McCormack, plus:

 

Feature commentary by La Peau douce co-writer Jean-Louis Richard, with contributions from film critic and journalist Serge Toubiana (2002)

 

Between Masters at War: Truffaut and the Lessons of Alfred Hitchcock and Roberto Rossellini (2022, 18 mins): film academic Pasquale Iannone considers how the work of Truffaut was influenced by two great directors

 

Paris Through the Lens (1900-1910, 9 mins): precious glimpses of the sprawling city Truffaut loved from the BFI National Archive

 

Old Portugal at the Ocean’s Edge (1896, 1 min): mesmerising early film fragments, shot near Lisbon long before it provided the setting for illicit love in La Peau douce

 

Original theatrical trailer

The Soft Skin is released on 30th May and you can order it now from the BFI Shop online or in person! 

Truffaut’s hard truths - The Soft Skin (1964)

Françoise Dorléac

This was Truffaut’s forth feature and a return to the more serious tone of debut 400 Blows, after the ebullience of Jules et Jim. It was an attempt to resent an evenly-balanced take on adultery – giving the story straight for the husband, his wife and his mistress. That it didn’t quite achieve this equality was perhaps inevitable but it is a fascinating and for the time, daring attempt at even-handedness.

Half the audience at the Cannes Festival walked out and the film was a box office flop on release… people were perhaps not ready for a film telling this age-old drama in such a dispassionate and un-sentimental way. And yet, it has more than stood the test of time and is now regarded as one of the director’s strongest works.

Truffaut was ahead if his time in subject matter and style but this film is also founded on three quite remarkable central performances, not least from the boundlessly talented Françoise Dorléac. I’ve fawned over Françoise before and see nothing here to undermine previous impressions – she was an actress of rare grace who demonstrated a raw intelligence and subtlety in her work.

She has an intense but imperfect beauty which can make her more interesting to watch than her serene younger sister (but they are both sublime…). A slight rasp in her voice helps gives her an emotional edge and she always seems fresh and in-the-moment real. Here she’s a young woman in the early stages of discovering her self and sexuality: she grows in stature through the film.

Jean Desailly

She is matched by Jean Desailly who gives a courageous portrayal of sterile, intellectual mid-life crisis. He seems to be in a neutral state, bored with existence, directionless yet driven by obsession: work, women and electric lights. He’s scared of slowing or looking down from where he is for fear of falling: a man looking for distraction at all costs and who cannot really honest with himself. No wonder he finds it difficult to talk to women.

Desailly always said that the film killed his career as what he saw as his unsympathetic character meant he never got leading roles again. But it’s hard to imagine the film without him and his strangely boyish, middle-aged face. He was perfectly cast in terms of his ability to express both the timidity and recklessness of the man running out of chances, making the wrong choices and just… not planning.

Nelly Benedetti

Nelly Benedetti has the hardest job of all, having to act for our sympathy largely on her own, her character in ignorance of the main events until her husband’s infidelity is slowly revealed. She is superb when torn between wanting to save the relationship with the man she still loves and her brave resolution to end it. He may be the intellectual but she has the emotional intelligence and quickly calculates the inevitabilities once their bond is broken.

Your sympathy is directed towards her… and the full extent of his betrayal has yet to be revealed… She is the emotional core of the film and goes from happy to heartbreak in a heartbeat: frighteningly incandescent...the rage of a good woman scorned.

Truffaut had been heavily involved in the meetings with Alfred Hitchcock that would lead to his ground-breaking book, and the influence of the British director is clear throughout this film. There’s lots of rapid cutting and, noticeably more shots than in most Truffaut films and maybe this film is amongst the most deliberate and the most “directed” he made?

Desailly plays Pierre Lachenay, a well-known writer and broadcaster, who starts the film off in a terrific rush to get home and say his farewells to wife Franca (Beneditti) and daughter Sabine (Sabine Haudepin, a Truffaut regular). Then it’s out to the airport, breaking the speed limit, in order to board a flight to a conference in Lisbon – he is busy and he must be important too. This opening segment is breathless and Lachenay only just makes his flight after his friend takes the cop for the speeding offence.

On board Pierre notices an attractive air hostess, Nicole (Dorleac), and watches her attentively.  He sees her again as he leaves and she arrives at the hotel they’ll both be staying at and after he has given his talk, he bumps into her in the hotel lift… Saddened by his inaction he rings her room number and initiates a meeting. She has recognised him from TV and we can only conclude that this plays a part in piquing her interest…

Their relationship takes off in fits and starts. There as almost surrealist failure to connect as they cannot find the right place for their canoodling in Paris – her apartment is too well “guarded” and she worries for her reputation whilst the kinds of hotels lovers use are too sleazy.

Pierre eventually suggests they go away together to Reims where he is giving an introductory lecture to a film on Andre Gide. But things do not go to plan and he is button holed by the chum who arranged the event and forced to meet and greet the locals. The evening is sold out and Nicole has to wander the streets being hassled by dirty old men…

By the time Pierre frees himself both are so fed up that they head back to Paris… They manage to find a nice romantic hotel in the countryside en route and spend an idyllic day together. But then he phones home and his wife having called Reims the night before knows something’s up.

Back in Paris Pierre and Franca argue and he denies having an affair. She wants to believe him but knows their time is over: they agree to separate. The section detailed the couple’s rapid disentanglement is harrowingly close to the bone as they move further away with every meeting – even their daughter and even sexual love cannot prevent the termination of the marriage.

Pierre plans to move in with Nicole but his back-up plan runs aground when – typically – she has worked out the truth of their situation before him. His disregard for her when they meet in a restaurant shows all the reflex complacency of his marital arrangement and Nicole sees that there can be no long-term future. The basis of their relationship was as lovers and without the third part of the triangle the structure will not hold.

She urges him to tell Franca the whole truth but he dithers and, despite the advice of friends continues to delay calling his wife to try, once more, for reconciliation. But by now, she has found out the whole truth and is set upon her own course of retribution…

The ending was based on an actual event and I won’t give it away here. It was part of Truffaut’s attempt to show real life including his own – famously he used his own apartment as the Lachaney’s home. And, eventually he left his wife for Fanny Ardant.

This is a beautifully controlled film and, even though it may lack that sentimentalism that many viewers still sought, you do feel for all the characters. Like all of us they can be annoying and frustrating but they’re trying to maintain balance and to make the right choices.

I watched the MK2/2 Entertain DVD which has a fascinating commentary from the film’s screen writer, Jean-Louise Richard along with an introduction from Serge Toubiana. Oh, and did I mention it's got Françoise Dorléac in it?