Love at Twenty

Truffaut's segment of this anthology is a worthy sequel to The 400 Blows. The impact may not be as great as the first film, but this short shows that sequels can be more than just retreads. Doinel's story becomes more universal as it is embellished, fleshed out. But this does not make it less interesting.

I have been looking for a copy of Stolen Kisses for some time, and so I was glad I finally found it--or thought I'd found it. While my sole reason for wanting to see it was to see the Truffaut segment featuring the character "Antoine Doinel", I was VERY surprised to see a DVD with ONLY this 30 minute portion from the movie on it--along with a Truffaut short, Les Mistons! What about the segments from Love At Twenty by Ophuls and the other directors? They were nowhere to be seen on the FOX/Lorber DVD! Quel dommage!

Now, in regard to the Antoine Doinel segment, I was VERY glad I saw it, as it was the most interesting and endearing I ever saw the character. Doinel appeared in several other Truffaut full-length films and this small segment was the final one I needed to see to complete them. It was lighter in tone and "cute" compared to the other incarnations--much lighter than 400 blows or the other films that have a more wistful edge to them. You see a hopeful Doinel just reaching adulthood--a decent guy--just REALLY awkward with the ladies.

This picture is worth watching just for Truffaut's terrific episode...it's too great for words. What a wonderful time that most have been back then when teenagers went to Mussorgsky recitals... not very common today, unfortunately. Anyway. Unlike American films which often show love in a artificial way, Truffaut and the other directors of the New Wave show realistic love, how it can be in real life. I love the way they film. The next episode (in Rome) is not quite as good as Truffaut's. In fact, it's real horrible. It almost ruins in otherwise a great film. The Japanese part is very good, but weird. I can't see why there must always be someone who dies in every Japanese film. The final episode in Poland is the 2nd best in the set. To conclude, I liked this movie a lot. It's the sort of film that makes you happy afterwards. And it's funny too. 5 out of 5?