Love on the Run

By finding an opportunity to firmly end his cycle of films about Antoine Doinel, Francois Truffaut gave himself a great advantage by permitting this film to go to any lengths necessary as long as it concludes the series, which has essentially been represented as a number of chapters portraying the lives of one unusual Parisian man.

In The 400 Blows, Antoine struggled with finding his place in the world as an adolescent and the relationship with his parents. In Antoine and Colette he found the pitfalls associated with love, a trend that would continue in Stolen Kisses and Bed and Board. Love on the Run is brilliantly done in the way that it incorporates all of these details via flashbacks and sequences designed to remind the audience of characters seen in previous films. Truffaut carefully edits these scenes in such a way as to appear as nostalgic memories as well as to aid along the audience in understanding the reasons and consequences of these characters' actions.

Once again, this story focuses mainly on Antoine's ability (or inability) to have a relationship with a woman only for nearly everything to go wrong. Truffaut wisely brought back the two most important women to Antoine, his wife of 5 years Christine and his first great love from his teen years Colette. Scenes between the two women are particularly well-done as we get a glimpse into some real soul-searching for this complex character. Antoine also has a new woman in his life, the charming and bubbly Sabine who plays a most important role in this story that also manages to include subplots involving Antoine's relationship to his parents and a bit of detective work reminiscent of that beautiful film, Stolen Kisses. Clearly, this entire series is one of the best in cinema history. By focusing on one man and all the adventures and problems he must face, Truffaut has created some of the most realistic and indelible fictional characters in all of art. In some ways, these people are more real than the ones we know for they combine knowledge, understanding and wisdom learned in the past as well as hope and courage for the future. All great things must come to an end and this ending is as perfect as films get: funny, poignant and so warm and tender. To understand why Truffaut was such a special artist, look no further than these five chapters depicting the life of Antoine Doinel.

The problem with sequels is that they usually don't have the same impact as the original (can anybody tell me that ANY of the "Indiana Jones" movies after "Raiders" was worth a darn?). Truffaut took a big chance with the Antoine Doniel character and made 5 movies with Leaud playing him in all of them....instead of losing my interest, I found each installment compelling and wonderful in their own little ways...."Love On The Run", the final installment of the series, shows us a much older Antoine who's still confused as to what exactly love is....unlike "The 400 Blows", the impact can't be likened to a punch to the jaw, but is more subtle and infectious. Truffaut's ode to love, to Jean-Pierre Leaud, and to Antoine Doniel, does this cinematic sleight of hand with flashbacks to the other 4 movies, with re-introducing a lot of the characters (his ex-wife, Collette, and even the man he caught kissing his mom in the first movie), and paints a more complete picture of a man who finally stops running (no pun intended) from his wretched childhood, and who finally learns that love requires trust and sacrifice....a magnificent last chapter to one of cinema's most beloved characters. You might not realize it while watching it, but you'll still be seeing scenes from the movie running in your head for days afterwards.....

Love on the Run (1979), the closing chapter in François Truffaut's celebrated series of films focusing on the character of Antoine Doinel; a near-iconic figure in French cinema brought vividly to life by the always great Jean-Pierre Léaud. Here, the actors injects the part with his usual nervous charm and cocky likability, though it is clear that character of Antoine is , still as uncertain about life, love and fidelity as ever before. On a Structural level, the film is built around Antoine's divorce from his wife Christine - with the reappearance of Claude Jade from Stolen Kisses (1968) and Bed and Board (1970) - inter-cut with flashbacks to early escapades from Antoine's presented in the style of a clip show.

This particular stylistic device does set up a sense of familiarity for new viewers, however; with such a slight plot, the flashbacks end up becoming the most interesting part of the movie, with what little new footage there is so repetitive that it feels like you're watching the same scene over and over again. In fact, the film is so hastily put together that it looks like Truffaut is desperate to get the series finished and out of the way, so that he can finally move on with the more progressive work that he was attempting with films like The Green Room (1979) and The Last Metro (1980).

Still, the film can sometimes be charming and the actors are all on fine form, but the whole thing seems lacking somewhat; with the use of repeated imagery and scenes cut and pasted from the previous films making this feel too much like a retread rather than a radical re-interpretation. For me, the film just seems empty, deflated and somehow lacking the allure, beauty and sophistication that was always synonymous with Truffaut's work or at least the films of his that I am familiar with. For me, Love on the Run was something of a slight, disappointing and unimaginative film that failed to inspire me in the way I had initially hoped.

This is the fifth and last part of Francois Truffauts Antoine Doinel cycle, a biographical movie series about the growing up of a romantic Parisian, played by Jean Pierre Leaud all the time, and all his struggles with love and life which was produced over a period of 20 years.

This last part from 1978 shows us Doinel doing what he's also doing in the previous four parts - falling in love with numerous women, trying to keep up relationships, looking for love, flirting etc. While the first part from 1959 showed us Doinel's childhood in a poor family with a hard and beating father and his longing for respect and love, the following parts are less interesting in my opinion.

The final chapter is rather superfluous, with jokes falling flat, no real script, no suspense or a really interesting story line, and the actors are just running around most of the time. If you have watched the previous Doinel films it might be interesting to see this sequel (which is not really an end), but I suggest you to watch the first Doinel movie "Les 400 coups" ("The 400 Blows") instead, or Truffauts "L'homme qui l'amait les femmes" ("The Man Who Loved Women"), a far more interesting study on love, obsession and fetishism.

The spontaneous character Antoine Doinel, continues his journey through his show and tell, divorced from Christine, shacked up with Sabine, pursues long past fancies, but things don't quite gel.

We continue to observe the trials and tribulations that life presents to the often frustrated Antoine, with multiple flashbacks to previous presentations forming a significant part of the piece, you really need to be a fan of the series in order to appreciate the journey, the saga, the voyage, of the boy become man but still a boy. There's a good chance you can pick out numerous events that may align with your own passage, or from someone you know, which may escalate your appreciation. While an enjoyable piece, it does seem to have run its course, and left with more of a whimper than a whoop.