Dir. Francois Truffaut
People who call Truffaut over-rated are fools. Dismissing films like Jules and Jim, The 400 Blows, or Day For Night can only be done by someone who's trying to make a point, be that against Truffaut, or against the entire French New Wave. I'm not one to dismiss criticism lightly, because frankly, to do so is to stifle your own growth as an appreciator of film. That said, if you dislike all of Truffaut's films then I'm sorry, there is some cinema greatness that you will be worse off for not having in your life. We're all allowed one or two, after all, you can't love every film by every great director, I understand that. But my fear is that someone will view, say, 400 Blows and write off the 'lesser' films of Truffaut as a complete no-go, as why bother with the lesser works of a director you don't appreciate? I feel this fear because I did it myself.
Yes I know, look at me the Truffaut spokesman speaking ill of the Oh-Great Master. But I did. I saw Shoot the Pianist and thought: "Not bad. Not entirely my cup of tea.". I then ignored his films for nearly two years. Then I saw Jules and Jim, and boy, I dug that groove hard. Since then I've been playing catch up. Digging into the 'lesser' works, the B-Grade, say The Soft Skin (which to call B-grade is massively insulting, but there you go), I was still digging it. Then I came to A Gorgeous Girl Like Me, which has only gained a bit of traction lately due to a new HD transfer, and said to myself: "Just get this one out of the way, and move on to the later stuff". For the record - I'm a fucking moron who should never listen to himself.
A Gorgeous Girl Like Me is a film that once you watch it, you wonder where it's been all your life. Let's talk about the object to illustrate why. The film opens with a young sociologist (Andre Dussollier) entering a female prison-ward to interview Camille Bliss (Bernadette Lafont), imprisoned for the murder of her father, early in her life, and her lover, more recently. The young sociologist, Stanislas, is out of his depth the moment Camille first interacts with him. This is entirely within character for her. She is a woman who throughout the film, can dominate men to do her bidding with the mere promise of sex, the provision of sex, or the withholding of sex. Now, this may give you the wrong impression, but rest assured, Camille is an incredible character beyond her sexual appeal. The sex-drive of men makes them buffoons, and their sexual quirks are exploited by Camille to full effect. Like an unwitting insect, Stanislas has walked into her spider-web, and she will spins her charms on him, to his full knowledge, and yet he will find himself unable to resist. He will help free her from prison, and it will sting him, but to him, oh what a pleasurable sting.
The playfulness of Camille, brought to vivid life by Bernadette Lafont, makes her stand out, even in the drab prison environment. Her choice of song to test the microphone for the interview, the very fact she chooses to sing, paint a picture of a woman un-encumbered by the worry of a prison sentence. It is very rare to see Camille entirely alone, so we can't tell if she's putting this on to charm Stanislas, but it seems to be 100% her, which is both endearing and terrifying, as prison is no deterrent at all to her.
The filmmaking reflects this playfulness, which comes as no surprise considering it's Truffaut. Saying that, most of his visual and editing uniqueness is contained in the early flashback to Camille's murder of her father. Her father argues with her mother, off-screen, as we see a young Camille pluck at a banjo. This annoys her father, who throws a box at her, and we see him burst out of the house - a rotund, bullish man, who steps down, kicks at the dirt, then steps on her banjo. He literally kicks his way about the farm, kicking his young daughter on the butt. If nothing else gives you the tone of the film, it's the fact that she is sent boosted into the air, with a whimsical musical note, and lands in a hay-bale. It's clearly an effect, what looks like by wire, and that's the point. Truffaut does not constrain himself to hard realism, and casts it aside when needed. The recollection of Camille is entirely hers, and is one where a kick up the arse sends you up like a cartoon character.
Very quickly, the screen geometrically closes up on her surprised face, blackening the rest of the frame. It's not the first time Truffaut has used such a trick, but the inclusion here adds to the playfulness, not in any massively significant way, but it's a touch that simply by being unique and unexpected, gives the scene (and the film as a whole) a levity, life. Her father climbs into a barn-loft used to store wood, and again, stomps his way about looking for a right piece. The next shot has the ladder float upwards, being carried by someone as the camera pans left following the ladder, before it is lowered and falls out of frame to the right, revealing in the next shot that's it's Camille carrying it. We hear her father shout, a loud thud, see Camille briefly turn her head and smile, nodding to herself at a job well done. She leaves screen-left, the ladder trailing behind. We see the father dead on the ground, surrounded by chickens, having fallen out of incompetence at the ladder's disappearance.
I've seen playful murders on screen before, but never quite like this. The way the ladder floats, Truffaut withholding the identity of the carrier, almost making it seem as if the ladder is literally floating away of its own volition. It isn't a mystery by any means, we know Camille will be involved, but it's playful, and I love the fact that it's done with some nice camera work. The fact that it's a little girl efficiently killing her father adds to the humour as it's treated as such a non-event. What the editing achieves, as I alluded to earlier, is a setting apart of Camille's recollections in comparison to the dull prison environment. This doesn't really last or become a pointed rule and that's why I love it. Childhood is a playful time, so why not have some fun with film conventions as we show the plot-necessary event?
Even in the 'lesser' Truffauts, you will find gems like this. I enjoy the entire film for being so fun, and for its full embrace of sex as a tool for humour. You look at your trash like Sex-Tape and compare it to this, and it's night and day; where one treats sex as a cheap punchline, this revels in using sex on a character, plot, and thematic level. But I like the Carry On films, so take my judgement as you see fit. My point with this post is to remind myself, and you the reader, to never underestimate or put down a filmmaker that is great, or that you appreciate, as what drew you to them in the first place is oftentimes not a fluke, but may not express itself as fully in some works as in others. Also in this case, fuck general opinion as you could be seriously missing out on something that just clicks with you, like A Gorgeous Girl Like Me did with, well, me.
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