Following the success of his early films, Les Quatre cents coups and Jules et Jim, Silken Skin (La Peau douce), Truffaut’s fourth feature, saw him return to the Cannes Film Festival for the first time since winning the Best Director award for his debut. There, the screening of this tale of an affair between married editor Pierre (Jean Desailly) and flight attendant Nicole (Françoise Dorléac) that ends badly, was, Truffaut wrote to a friend, “a complete fiasco.” It is now considered by some to be one of his best, its coolly detached presentation marking a significant maturation of Truffaut as a filmmaker. (Notes by Kevin Coyne.)

This event is part of our Films Maudits (cursed films) season running throughout August; focusing on films that have been unfairly maligned or overlooked on their original release. The term has it’s origins from a festival in 1949, curated by Jean Cocteau, amongst others, which celebrated these neglected and disregarded films.