Customer Reviews

Stolen Kisses

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have to respectfully disagree with the first reviewer. While "Stolen Kisses" might not be as powerful as the "The 400 Blows," it stands as one of the best treatments on film of the adolescent exploration of love andsexuality. However, I will warn readers who are already fans of this film that this DVD version is nothing exceptional. Its main advantage is that, until recently, Stolen Kisses has been out of print and, in many cases, available only in an English-dubbed version. Make no mistake, Stolen Kisses is an excellent film and a worthy successor to The 400 Blows; however, there is little to distinguish this DVD version from its VHS counterpart. The colors are dull, the image quality is below average, the scene access offers a mere six markers, and there are no real "special" features. As I have come to expect from Fox Lorber's collection of Godard and Truffaut films, quality is sporadic. If only Fox Lorber was more interested in the quality of its issues than in the quantity of the output. I think DVD collectors would be willing to wait and pay a few extra dollars for truly distinguished issues like "Jules and Jim" or "My Life to Live".

i wouldn't say that about too many films but this one has it all - romance, humor, sex, etc, etc. It's truffaut's masterpiece so it's a masterpiece by one of the greatest. wow! buy it!

This is a delightful Truffaut movie starring Jean-Pierre Leaud who played Antoine Doinel, the running boy in Truffaut's famous Les Quatre cents coup (1959). He's a young man now just discharged from the army bouncing from one temporary job to another, from being a night watchman to being a TV repairman. He gets into scrapes and gets fired, but presses on (in-between impulsive liaisons with ladies of the evening).

He gets his big chance when he lucks into a job with a private detective agency. After some mishaps he is called upon to take a job (within a job, as it were) at a shoe store to find out why the owner is not liked. There he meets the owner's wife, Fabienne Tabard, played by Delphine Seyrig (Last Year at Marienbad 1961; The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie 1972, etc.). He is immediately smitten by her. In typical French cinematic fashion it is not clear whether she is a goddess or a maternal figure for the thoroughly bewitched Antoine.

Meanwhile there is Christine Darbon (Claude Jade) who plays Antoine's real love interest. What makes this film so thoroughly agreeable is Truffaut's light-hearted wit and his studious avoidance of cliche in a genre (the romantic comedy) in which cliches abound. The humor is often tongue-in-cheek, and as subtle as a diplomat's compliment. Leaud's charm and his oh so earnest style make him the perfect foil for life's little jokes. Along the way detective agencies are satirized as are its clientele, including a guy who wants his magician boyfriend tailed only to find that he is--horrors!--married, or the aforementioned shoe haberdasher who hires a private eye (not a shrink!) to find out why he is not beloved.

Bottom line: see this for Francois Truffaut, whose keen sense of humanity's foibles and unique style, sometimes playful and sometimes penetrating, have made him one of cinema's greatest directors.

After being blown away by "The 400 Blows", I couldn't wait to continue the story of Truffaut's alter-ego, Antoine Doinel. So I have to report with some disappointment that I found this movie a less-than-worthy successor, lacking the tremendous narrative impetus of the first, and also lacking the charming performances and the cinematic virtuosity. It's not that it's totally terrible but it's not very good either.

We meet Doinel being discharged from the army. Back on the streets of Paris, he resumes a career as a jerk-of-all trades. He is successively, a hotel night desk clerk, a detective, a shoe shop stock room boy and a TV repairman. He fails at everything but has success in his on-off relationship with Christine for reasons that are not quite clear. He's also seduced by the wealthy wife of one of his bosses.

Jean-Pierre Leaud, so wonderful in "The 400 Blows", is not terribly compelling as an adult actor. His main tic is forever sweeping his greasy hair away from his eye. And Doinel is an unsympathetic character. He's not committed to anything. He doesn't seem to care what happens to him. When he's fired, he shrugs his shoulders. Whenever someone points him in a particular direction, he follows it -- until something else happens. I found it hard to square this aimless character with the unforgettable image of the intense kid who made a break for freedom at the end of "The 400 Blows" and kept running and running until he found it.
The plot meanders around but I found myself steadily losing interest. There are two more movies in the series but I won't bother watching them.

I wanted to see this film because I like a lot the beauty of the actress (Claude Jade) but I found a very good film

Filmed during the 1968 riots in Paris, François Truffaut's endearing, soufflé-light romantic comedy continues the saga of Antoine Doinel, played by a grown-up Jean-Pierre Leaud, who first appeared in the director's semi-autobiographical classic "The 400 Blows." As the boyishly inept Doinel, Leaud is effortlessly charming, while the radiant Seyrig is marvelous as a smoldering seductress married to a neurotic shoe salesman. Witty, touching, and studded with gorgeous views of the City of Lights, "Stolen Kisses" is one of Truffaut's sweeter confections.

This is Truffaut's third movie in his ANTOINE ET COLLETTE series, which began brilliantly with THE 400 BLOWS. It begins with Antoine (Jean-Pierre Leaud) being dishonorably discharged from the army and eventually getting a job with a detective agency. He's not very good at it, though he tries hard, and on one case, while working as a stockboy in a shoe store, he has an affair with the owner's wife Fabienne, (played by Delphine Seyrig).

In addition to all this, Truffaut explores Antoine's relationship with long-time girlfriend Catherine (Catherine Lutz) - the ambiguities and confusions that go along with young love. The best scenes by far are those between Antoine and Fabienne - they are vibrant and compelling. Too much of the rest, though good, seems inconsistent. Antoine's character is maddening to watch and is perfectly played by Leaud: he can't quite grasp life around him, yet he can shrug it off as if lost in a fog he's unaware of. Truffaut has made better movies than this one, but it's not bad at all. Worth a watch.

"Stolen Kisses" is also one of those films that I can watch over and over again without getting bored. This film is charming and funny. Jean-Pierre Leaud's exaggerated expressions (his "declaration of love" for Madame Tabat scene and the "Chiquitita banana" scene) certainly contribute to the film's charm. I adore the characters Antoine and Christine very much. The film is very well made; like all Truffaut's films, the music, sceneries, casts, lighting, landscapes, angles etc all fit in like a perfect jigsaw puzzle. I feel that the best scene is the beginning of the movie where Truffaut shoot scenes of moving cars on the street and then slowly moves on to shoot the entrance of a cinema. It is also then the music fills in the background. I agree with one of the reviewers that this film makes good use of Charles Trenet's song "Que Reste-T-Il De Nos Amours". Simply delightful!

Antoine Doinel, French director François Truffaut's cinematographic double, returns in STOLEN KISSES after an eight years break (if one excepts the short movie ANTOINE ET COLETTE ). Back to a beloved character for Truffaut, back to the civilian life for Antoine - Jean-Pierre Léaud - Doinel who tries to survive in the Paris of 1967.

STOLEN KISSES is not a realistic movie, it's rather a mixture of light comedy and psychologic melodrama. I could say that Antoine Doinel is the big brother of the characters described 30 years later by Wes Anderson in BOTTLE ROCKET or RUSHMORE.

STOLEN KISSES is also a movie about how Truffaut saw the relations between men and women. According to this movie, they are more than complex and this theme, from this moment on, will be one of the constants of François Truffaut's next movies of the 70's and the 80's.

A dozen Truffaut trailers as bonus features, filmographies and english subtitles. Average sound but below-average images with faded colours.

A DVD for the Doinel fans.

Stolen Kisses is a lyrical study on youthful love. To me, it ranks among François Truffaut's finest: The 400 Blows, Shoot the Piano Player and Jules & Jim. I'm glad you had it available at Amazon