cover image Truffaut by Truffaut: Francois Truffaut

Truffaut by Truffaut: Francois Truffaut

Francois Truffaut. ABRAMS, $29.95 (240pp) ISBN 978-0-8109-1689-0

Despite an occasionally awkward translation, the voice of the late, masterful French film director here resonates through interviews culled from press releases, newspapers and other media. ""I make only films that show what is askew and painful in certain family or love relationships . . . thus to film always the same heartbreaks,'' said Truffaut, who also maintained that as a child he was unloved and ignored by his parents. Although it offers but a glimpse of a vastly rich career, this scrapbook will, nonetheless, be relished by Truffaut devotees as they muse on his 25 films amid the abundant color and black-and-white stills included here. Bearing witness to the director's artistry and prolificness, the images include the mutimanifestations of Truffaut's screen alter ego Antoine Doinel; obsessed lovers of The Story of Adele H., The Man Who Loved Women and Jules and Jim; some 200 children in Small Change; and the ``wild child'' of Aveyron. Rabourdin is a French film journalist. (October)