The Soft Skin (Francois Truffaut, 1964): 59 Screenshots

I'm a big Truffaut fan, but I'm perplexed by the received wisdom on what are the 'highs' and 'lows' of his career. Most critics regard his first three features- The 400 Blows (1959) Shoot the Piano Player (1960) and Jules et Jim (1962) as among his best films, but they all strike me as over-rated. Whereas with his fourth film, the comparatively little-known 'Soft Skin' (1964), he starts to get really good, as far as I'm concerned. And I think nearly everything he made for the 12 years after that is excellent: Stolen Kisses (1968) The Wild Child (1970) Domicile Conjugal (1970) Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me (1972) Day for Night (1973) and Small Change (1976) are all better than those early films.

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