THE IDEA OF A "pure picture" or "pure cinema" -- meaning film untethered, socially and artistically, from the established 19th-century arts (the novel, painting, photography) and free to explore its own absolute realm -- really begins with the French New Wave in general, and François Truffaut in particular. This is not to say that cinema was not appreciated as an art before Truffaut, but through him and the group of other film critics turned filmmakers (Godard, Chabrol, Rohmer, and Rivette), a united declaration of independence was made. A similar thing can be said of jazz music -- cinema's 20th-century counterpart, as both forms were only possible through technologies developed in our century -- with particular regard to bebop, which gave jazz its legitimacy and independence from other imposing arts.

With Truffaut's work, what astonishes us, what makes his films seem alive and fresh, is that he obviously loves filmmaking. To watch his films is to directly experience the pleasure he derives from filmmaking; in his best work -- Jules and Jim, The 400 Blows, Shoot the Piano Player -- every moment is filled with a kind of happiness that is saying, "Look, I'm making a film!" and you suspect he will never get over this simple yet vital realization.

For Truffaut, cinema was not so much an instrument for telling a great story as an instrument in itself. For example, the ambiguous ending of The 400 Blows, when the boy (Jean-Pierre Leaud) is running to the beach and suddenly turns, his puzzled, panicked face (which seems trapped and free at once) can only be described as cinematic; it could not happen anywhere but in the cinema. Truffaut's oeuvre is filled with such moments.

Finally, Truffaut's films are always engaged in a dialogue with other films by the Hollywood and European masters he admired; but this constant referencing is rarely an impediment. Despite their heavy load of cinematic information, his films always seem natural, sudden, and spontaneous. All in all, I have yet to see a bad Truffaut film, and even if I saw one it wouldn't matter. Any director who can claim three world masterpieces in his career is worth watching even when he hits rock bottom.

The Films of François Truffaut The Films of François Truffaut