Abstract
Truffaut's filmography is a roll-call of the most beautiful actresses in postwar French cinema. At the same time, the viewer cannot help notice the ambivalent and downright negative role Truffaut's most prominent women play. Embedded in this sweetness and light is a heart of darkness, a viciousness which is principally embodied by the female characters. Herein lies the “Truffaut paradox” which this chapter explores, with reference to Truffaut's biography, to the context of the New Wave, and to three emblematic stars in the Truffaut universe: Jeanne Moreau, Catherine Deneuve, and Bernadette Lafont. On the level of star image, in Truffaut's universe the sensual energy and populist aura that Lafont exudes does not bestow on her either the Hitchcockian glamour of the ice maiden or the Renoiresque prestige of the “authentic,” intelligent beauty. Truffaut's women as embodied by Moreau entertain a paradoxical relationship to modern femininity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | A COMPANION TO FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT |
| Editors | Anne Gillain, Andrew Dudley |
| Place of Publication | Chichester |
| Publisher | Blackwell |
| Pages | 375-387 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781118321591 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781405198479 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 19 Feb 2013 |