François Truffaut at work

Truffaut at Work explores the career of leading French director and screenwriter François Truffaut (1932-84). This comprehensive study examines Truffaut's entire oeuvre and provides an in-depth exploration of his films and methods, including early films such as his first feature film Les Quatre Cents Coups (The 400 Blows, 1959) and Jules et Jim (Jules and Jim, 1961), the award-winning La Nuit américaine (Day for Night, 1973) and Truffaut's last film Vivement dimanche ! (Finally Sunday), which he made in 1983.

Born in Paris, Truffaut began his film career as a critic working with André Bazin, founder and editor of the influential journal Cahiers du Cinéma, before making his first short, Une visite, in 1954. Influenced by Jean Vigo, Jean Renoir and Alfred Hitchcock, Truffaut rejected the slick, impersonal style of studio films for a more personal approach, in which the director has sole creative authority and is recognized as auteur of the film. A key exponent of the Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) movement of film-makers, Truffaut's films combine comedy, pathos, suspense and melodrama ; he also wrote or co-authored all of his feature films.

Film critic Carole Le Berre has gained unprecedented access to Truffaut's personal papers and film archives, and she takes a detailed, behind-the-scenes look at his films, offering a major reassessment of the work of this prolific director. Organized chronologically, each chapter examines one film in detail, providing a unique insight into the different aspects of Truffaut's working methods. With over 400 images, Truffaut at Work is extensively illustrated with film stills, archival material, on-set imagery, letters and original documents, frame-by-frame shots, concept storyboards and annotated film scripts. This fascinating book provides a fresh and illuminating exploration of the work of France's leading director, whose popularity and films are known all over the world.