In competition at Cannes in 1964 and at the time severely criticized as an antipoetic idea of love, François Truffaut's La Peau Douce is often neglected although the rawness of the characters, the compelling desperation of the plot and patience of the director's frames make it certainly more poetic than the often tedious romanesque of Jules and Jim.
Either way like most Nouvelle Vague productions La Peau Douce remains a beautiful window into the everyday of a time past. Among witnessing defunct activities like smoking in airplanes, waiting for public phone-booths to be freed, dancehall restaurants and the rare times Françoise Dorléac's (Catherine Deneuve's older sister who died in a car crash at 25) character is allowed to wear jeans, there is a wonderful shot of shoes aligned in front of hotel bedrooms. If this scene is an undisclosed tribute to feet fetishists, for anthropologists in love with things it is surprising how pointy the toes and how low the heels are on 1960s shoes.
La Peau Douce - bande annonce (2005) from Julio on Vimeo.
