Tirez sur le pianiste
I’m writing this blog post right now because I don’t want to stop listening to Explosions in the Sky, which I would have to if I started watching a movie now, ahahaha.
The German Wikipedia article says the film is 79 minutes long, the French says 85 and the English 92. Beautiful… And this Criterion version I have seen actually says 1:21 hours?
These two main characters don’t look very Nouvelle Vague at all. Charles Aznavour is not tall and attractive enough and Marie Dubois looks like a Hollywood character. However, they feel absolutely perfect for this movie. His sad face is hilarious and melancholic at the same time; and she is very nice – the good thing about women in film noirs is that they always feel somewhat strong and smart. I definitely prefer women like that.
Instead of a synopsis, the French Wikipedia article on the film has a surprisingly nice “synopsis”. Usually the French articles are completely worthless as they don’t typically say much, but this one includes a very nice-sounding interpretation of this film to be some sort of parody of ganster stories, where the gangsters are actually the most amusing and likeable characters in the story. It also postulates that the film is mostly about love – knowing Truffaut’s other movies, I perfectly agree. The depiction of different women is crucial here, and give so many insights to the main character.
They have an essay month for Truffaut’s films at Not coming to a theater near you and in its esprit, I have already cut my promise not to see a French movie for awhile. Then again, a Nouvelle Vague film by someone I know is relatively safe, and honestly I don’t feel like experimenting all too much lately. There are too many films I want to see after all. The review for Jules et Jim is nice in how it mentions that Catherine is actually honest, but the one for Shooting the Piano Player is even better.
Finally, I love how Marie Dubois, the actress of Léna is the one who is pantomiming “Tirez sur le pianiste” in “Une Femme est une femme”. Speaking of titles, I think that “shooting” fits the of the movie perfectly, because on the one hand, you can take shooting in its first meaning; on the other hand, it seem to mean “a portrait of a piano player” which is exactly the layer of the film underneath its gangster comedy/parody.
I am glad I have seen this film despite my late disappointment with French movies. I wonder how Truffaut’s other work are going to compare to his first three very, very young Nouvelle Vague-ish films.