Tirez sur le pianiste (1960)

a.k.a Shoot the Piano Player

81 min
Directed by François Truffaut

Charlie is a former classical pianist who has changed his name and now plays jazz in a grimy Paris bar. When Charlie's brothers, Richard and Chico, surface and ask for...

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VChile

Lena's line about birthday kisses might be the most romantic thing I've ever heard. Or maybe I just wish someone would say it to me.

10 years ago

There's a lot of experimentation in Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player, not least of which is a certain denial of genre, throwing noir, melodrama, romance, and strange comedy beats all into the same pot, but never really accepting the tropes that come with them. And that's quite beyond the elements of style, like the porthole mattes, cutaways to punchlines, and such. In the final analysis, the most subversive thing about the film is its dismantling of the movie alpha male. Aznavour's character may get in bed with at least three French beauties, but they have to make the first move. He's shy, is said to "respect women", and when he finds success, he's wracked by insecurity. His weakness - whether taken as a negative or a positive (because in crime pictures, which this makes a claim to be, caring about others is weakness, being glib is strength) - is what drives the tragedies. So shy, yes, but also in self-imposed isolation, believing he deserves neither love nor success. Which is all quite anathema to the macho hero of movies of the era (and for a long time yet).

4 years ago