Antoine and Colette

Poor Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud)... he stalks Collette (Marie-France Pisier) like any teenager follows a girl around. They keep bumping into each other, and he realizes she must live nearby. AND... they both appreciate music. She DOES string him along, and Antoine does everything he can to impress her and observe her every move. We watch as Antoine goes through the usual teen angst, trying to win over the woman he loves and hoping for the best. Truffaut had been in the business almost ten years when he made this, and one wonders if this was from his own life experiences; it WAS also written by him. Truffaut was nominated three times for Director and Writing... and sadly died young at 52. Did you notice Truffaut as "the French scientist" in Close Encounters ? One of the last roles he played as an actor. Antoine et Collette is pretty good. It's a bit dated, when they explain how records are made (records?? what are those ?) Showing on Turner Classics now and then. Pretty good. some sadness, like all good Truffaut films!

That's the second part of Truffaut pentalogy about his alter ego, Antoine Doinel. My opinion is controversial but i think it's better than THE 400 BLOWS, actually much better. It's a short film, its running time is 30 minutes, so you can't compare it with a full length film, but still, i enjoyed it and it's more coherent and well structured.

This is a coming of age dramedy/romance. A solid story about Doinel's love. I won't reveal what happened but viewers will empathize with the leading character, i sure did, this movie brought me memories from my young age. It's tremendously realistic, especially if you consider this is a 1962 movie. It depicts things as they are.

I think it's slightly better even than the following movie, STOLEN KISSES. I am gonna watch soon the last 2 parts of this pentalogy.

Though not as beautiful in it's direction as 400 Blows, I slightly prefer this short but wonderful continuation of Antoine Doinel's life. It's more concise, captures a part of life that is rarely well portrayed (as opposed to the dozens of great films about childhood) and has a wonderful musicality in it's editing as showcased by the show stealing (pun intended) moment when Antoine first sees Colette.

Truffaut's short film, made to pacify the curiosity eager fans of The 400 Blows as to the continuation of the lives of its disadvantaged characters, carries the same dry lack of emotion and still distances itself from us despite all its observation of and sympathy for the growing pains of Antoine Doinel. Though it is perhaps good that there is a distance kept because of its logical understanding of Antoine's experiences which leave him confused and painfully humbled.

Jean-Pierre Leaud, who played Antoine in The 400 Blows, experiences the seemingly apocalyptic feeling of rejection, as Collette, the fixed object of his desire, has no interest in him regardless of all his efforts to entice her with frequent stopovers, invitations to concerts, and other woos. He even follows his self-assured friend's approach of writing letters, but with what appears to be no avail. Just as with The 400 Blows, we are left to ponder this perplexing phase in this character's life, causing us to reflect on our own painful memories of growing pains and the humility and self-doubt that accompanies it.

While it is a sequel to 'The 400 Blows', I would consider 'Antoine et Colette' to be the first Antoine Doniel centered film to really establish the overall series. 'The 400 Blows' really feels like a stand alone movie, while its follow ups feel somewhat separate from it, but still focus on the same main character and do reference the previous film. Regardless, 'Antoine et Colette' is a very fun, charming, and grounded short film that takes on a much more comic and lighthearted tone than its predecessor while still remaining at least somewhat mature. It doesn't come close to reaching the masterful heights of 'The 400 Blows'; however, it's still great and just as entertaining and doesn't really deserve all this constant comparing I'm doing.

Particularly successful in this short are its characters. Not only is the central character of Antoine Doniel as fascinating as ever, but so are those around him. Colette and even Colette's parents are likable and charming people and seeing them all get into this simple-yet-complicated situation is really engaging. Both Antoine and Colette are sympathetic, and both of their sides of the story are simultaneously understandable and (at times) somewhat pathetic. Truffaut gives us plenty of moments over the course of the film's half hour runtime to cringe at Antoine's awkward obsession with this girl, and, especially towards the end, the girl's own flaws come more into light, making for a compelling, yet extremely mild, central conflict.