The Films in My Life

The Films in My Life is a useful resource on the various films, directors, and actors that have influenced Francois Truffaut. However, his attempts to tie them to deeper themes in literature and philosophy don’t quite work. I liked this observation though:

Indeed, it often happens that searing flashes of truth, nuances whose sincerity is beyond doubt, creative and sublime mimicry of all sorts are injected into the most conventional Hollywood sequences. It sometimes seems that the element of truth is all the more powerful as the framework, ambiance or genre of the film are all the more phony and artificial.

Here is a list of films mentioned in the book.