François Roland Truffaut
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Books
18
Awards
François Truffaut’s 1959 debut The 400 Blows launched the French New Wave and made him its central figure. He directed Jules and Jim and Day for Night, winning the Cannes Best Director Award in 1959 and a BAFTA for Best Film. A former critic, Truffaut acted in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Names, aliases, and relatives of François Truffaut — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
François Truffaut by the numbers — life, work, and family.
François Truffaut — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
François Truffaut’s films often reflected his unhappy childhood. He was born in Paris on February 6, 1932, an only child raised by his maternal grandparents. He left school at 14 and founded a film club in 1947, meeting critic André Bazin who became his protector. After deserting the army, he was jailed and later dishonorably discharged in 1952.
Truffaut directed his first short film in 1954, but his real debut came with Les Mistons in 1957. In 1959, The 400 Blows won the Cannes Best Director Award and became the key film of the French New Wave. He continued with Jules and Jim 1962, Fahrenheit 451 1966, and Day for Night 1973, which won the BAFTA for Best Film and the César for Best Director. He also acted in Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977 as Claude Lacombe.
Truffaut married Madeleine Morgenstern in 1957, the daughter of a film distributor; they had two daughters, Laura born 1959 and Eva born 1961. He later had a relationship with actress Fanny Ardant, with whom he had a daughter, Joséphine, born in 1983. He was briefly engaged to actress Claude Jade in 1968.
Truffaut remains the most popular French film director of his time. His films explored passion, women, childhood, and faithfulness. He inspired a generation of filmmakers, and Entertainment Weekly voted him the 27th Greatest Director. His influence endures through the French New Wave he helped launch.
Browse the complete filmography of François Truffaut — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
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Every award, honor, and recognition received by François Truffaut — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
François Truffaut's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
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A wall of memorable lines from François Truffaut — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
Claude Jade and Jean Pierre Léaud Are My Contemporaries.
Is the Cinema More Important Than Life?
I Have Always Preferred the Reflect of the Life to Life Itself
Film Lovers Are Sick People.
Some Day I’ll Make a Film That Critics Will Like. When I Have Money to Waste.
Taste Is a Result of a Thousand Distastes.
I Make Films That I Would Like to Have Seen When I Was a Young Man.
Cinema Is an Improvement on Life.
Well, to Put It Bluntly, Isn’t There a Certain Incompatibility Between the Terms Cinema and Britain?
In Lubitsch Swiss Cheese, Each Hole Winks.
There Is Only One Kind of Bad Spectator: One Who Walks in After the Film Has Started.
We Have Heard 100 Times That Cinema Is an Escape. We Should Remember This. for a Good Escape Can Be Prepared Only After Many Observations, Long Thinking, and in Complete Secrecy. It Is Not Executed Until One Is Sure That This Is It; and Then It Is Made in the Dark of Night, and in Complete Silence. so Let’s Remember This When We Prepare, Shoot, or Show Our Movies.
Little-known facts about François Truffaut — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
After the war, he became a devoted cinephile, viewing up to 20 films each week and keeping a diary on his movie-going.
He was a big Alfred Hitchcock fan and defined him as his master.
Warren Beatty’s first choice to direct Bonnie and Clyde 1967 but he turned it down.
Had a falling out with Jean-Luc Godard after he believed Godard disparaged the work of others to elevate his own.
As a teenager, he committed petty theft, acts of violence, and defied authority, leading to disciplinary incarceration.
He enlisted in the French army in December 1950, hoping to be assigned to the film branch. Instead, he was sent to Germany and then Indochina as an artilleryman. Unhappy, he deserted twice, was caught, sent to a stockade and later an asylum, and was dishonorably discharged in 1952.
Picking up a hitchhiker once, he started a conversation about movies. When the man had too little knowledge, Truffaut insisted he leave the car.
Buried in the Montmartre cemetery in Paris, France.
He acknowledged his unhappy childhood, which is reflected in his films.
Truffaut regarded his work with Steven Spielberg on Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977 as a largely positive experience. He claimed it enabled him to communicate with actors more effectively.
Truffaut described The 400 Blows 1959 as his most personal film.
He died two days before Oskar Werner, whom he directed in Jules and Jim 1962 and Fahrenheit 451 1966.
In 1968, two years after the publication of Hitchcock/Truffaut, Alfred Hitchcock hired Truffaut’s star Claude Jade for Topaz 1969.
He had a disagreement with his family over the autobiographical content of some films, and tensions remained for the rest of his life.
When director Sergei Parajanov was imprisoned by the Soviet government, Truffaut signed a petition for his release.
His first review for Cahiers du Cinema was for Sudden Fear 1952.
He was an only child who saw little of his working parents during childhood. His maternal grandfather was a great influence and responsible for his love of books.
Entertainment Weekly voted him the 27th Greatest Director of all time, making him the highest ranking director on this list who was a film critic before becoming a filmmaker.
Directed two actresses to Oscar nominations: Valentina Cortese Best Supporting Actress, Day for Night 1973 and Isabelle Adjani Best Actress, The Story of Adele H. 1975.
He was rumored to be a contender to direct The Stunt Man 1980 and to have used elements from that novel in Day for Night 1973. He denied this, claiming inspiration from Singin’ in the Rain 1952, 8½ 1963, and The Bad and the Beautiful 1952.
He found it more economical to shoot on location instead of using studio sound-stages.
Sold la Cause du people The Peoples’ Cause revolutionary propaganda to uphold freedom of expression on the streets of Paris on June 20, 1970, with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.
During his time as a film critic for Cahiers Du Cinema, his less positive reviews could be scathing. Years later, when published in book format, he attempted to omit his more savage reviews.
Daughter Josephine was born on September 28, 1983, to his companion Fanny Ardant.
Two of his films were nominated for the same Golden Globe in the Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film category in 1969: Stolen Kisses 1968 and The Bride Wore Black 1968 competed against each other and both failed to win.
He was engaged to Claude Jade in 1968.
He was the son of Janine de Montferrand and was raised by his maternal grandparents.
He was the father, with Madeleine Morgenstern, of two daughters: Laura born January 22, 1959 and Eva born June 29, 1961.
He was a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962.
Profiled in Encyclopedia of French Film Directors by Philippe Rege Scarecrow Press.
Interviewed in World Directors in Dialogue by Bert Cardullo Scarecrow Press, 2011.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about François Truffaut.
Celebrities similar to François Truffaut — same craft, ranked by reach.
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