François Truffaut plays the crime genre like jazz with this freewheeling adaptation of a novel by pulp master David Goodis, a film that infuses noir fatalism with a nervy nouvelle-vague freshness. The tragicomic story follows the adventures of timid dance-hall pianist Charlie (Charles Aznavour), who gets caught up in a whirlwind love affair and is inadvertently drawn into a violent underworld by his gangster brothers. With the film’s dazzling mix of Raoul Coutard’s handheld camera work, a wistful score by Georges Delerue, and playfully jagged editing, Truffaut creates a rueful character study shot through with his signature obsessions: cinema, the elusive nature of creativity, and the sting of romantic regret.
Film Info
France
1960
81 minutes
Black & White
2.35:1
French
Spine #315
4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
Audio commentary featuring film scholars Peter Brunette and Annette Insdorf
Introduction by filmmaker Noah Baumbach
Interviews with cinematographer Raoul Coutard, actors Charles Aznavour and Marie Dubois, and François Truffaut collaborator Suzanne Schiffman
Archival interviews with Truffaut on the film and the source novel
The Music of Georges Delerue, an illustrated audio essay
Episode of the Criterion Channel series Observations on Film Art featuring scholar Jeff Smith
Dubois’s screen test
Trailer
Plus: An essay by film critic Kent Jones, an interview with Truffaut, and reflections by the director on Aznavour and Dubois