Antoine de Baecque will introduce this screening.

Even though it was a considerable public and critical disappointment when it came out in 1969, it is one of Truffaut’s most beautiful films: secretive, intimate, vibrant, oscillating between the wild and civilised characteristics of its author. All begins well (the two most famous French actors of the time, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Catherine Deneuve, a romance-thriller plot, the exotic backdrop of Reunion Island…) but despite the idyllic setting trouble lies ahead. Belmondo is filmed as a virginal woman, but the romance turns sour, poisonous even; erotic fetishism takes centre stage, and Truffaut clearly falls in love with his actrice. (ADB)

Showing as part of the French New Wave Programme with Antoine de Baecque as part of the  Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2014 (November 19th – 30th).