Love on the Run [1979]

The fascinating cinematic lifecycle of Truffaut’s unforgettable alter-ego Antoine Doinel – his troubled adolescence in the heartbreaking The 400 Blows, his tryst with first love in the muted Antoine et Colette, his romantic and professional misadventures in the whimsical Stolen Kisses and his marital woes in the serio-comic Bed and Board- was brought to a memorable close, not just chronologically but also from thematic and narrative standpoints, with the reflective and quietly melancholic Love on the Run. The film unfolds with 30-something Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) and Christine (Claude Jade) getting the 1^st ever no-fault divorce in France; he’s in a tentative relationship with Sabine (Dorothée), owner of a small record store, and is working as a proofreader at a printing shop; meanwhile, he’s earned some success with his heavily autobiographical debut novel that brings him in contact after many years with Colette (Marie-France Pisier), his first love who’s now a lawyer. The narrative was regularly interspersed with flashbacks from the earlier films in the series, lovingly reminiscing certain indelible moments from his life and juxtaposing with his present. Memories, both joyous and poignant, therefore formed a key thematic strand, and exquisitely summarized his journey and effectively accentuated the quirks, the idiosyncrasies, the escapades, the immaturities, the chaos and the regrets that have all added to the personal arc of Antoine Doinel. The fluid, bittersweet, brilliantly shot and marvelously edited final chapter of ‘The Adventures of Antoine Doinel’, through intermingling of humour and pain, provided a fine summation of not just the fabled protagonist’s journey, but also, in a way, that of its creator, viz. François Truffaut.

Director: Francois Truffaut
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Romantic Drama
Language: French
Country: France