Stolen Kisses aka Baisers Voles, written by Francois Truffaut, Claude de Givray and Bernard Revon, directed by the former - Nine out of 10

Stolen Kisses aka Baisers Voles, written by Francois Truffaut, Claude de Givray and Bernard Revon, directed by the former

Nine out of 10

This motion picture has been included on The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list https://www.listchallenges.com/new-york-times-best-1000-movies-ever-made/list/21 - and it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film in a Foreign Language.

It is obvious why critics have appreciated such a remarkable feature, written and directed by one of the Gods of cinema, Francois Truffaut, author of classics like The 400 Blows - http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/03/les-quatre-cents-coups-aka-400-blows-by.html - Day for Night - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/08/day-for-night-written-by-jean-louis.html - Love on the Run http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/note-on-love-on-run-writer-director.html

Baisers Voles has reminded this cinephile of another legend of film making, Luis Bunuel, who gave the world The Exterminating Angel http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-exterminating-angel-by-luis-bunuel.html - the shocking, historic Un Chien Andalou http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/10/note-on-un-chien-andalou-director-luis.html

However, Stolen Kisses seems to have more in common with Belle de Jour - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/belle-de-jour-directed-by-luis-bunuel.html and perhaps even more with The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, in the sense that there is the same sense of the Absurd, a humor that, if not descendant from Eugene Ionesco, where rhinoceros are running in the streets, but there is a strong element of absurdity nevertheless…

Antoine Doinel is the hero of the film, the one who joins a detective agency after being discharged from the army, where he has clearly misbehaved – in the opening scenes, we see the young man making funny faces, and just as his superior is reading from the forms that comment on how unfit he was so this is quod erat demonstrandum

The protagonist loves Christine Darbon, but in what many may see as classic French fashion – well, in the fifties anyway, when the French ‘ménage a trois’ may have been, if not widespread, at least not shocking, the hero becomes infatuated with another woman.

At the detective agency we see a collection of bizarre individuals that act pretty much in the manner of the sick American president of this day…he will not be there next year…Insha’Allah!

One client comes to the office to ask that they obtain information on a…magician, but he appears to be the one he wants investigated, and while he is asking for these services, he keeps playing with his hands, one of which is in a glove!

The magnificent actor Michael Lonsdale has the role of Georges Tabard, a shoe shop owner who sees that everyone is more or less disgusted with him; they have a negative perception that he wants to be…investigated!

Therefore, Antoine Doinel is hired at the shop, after a setup, a phony selection to distract attention from the newcomer and avoid any suspicion as to his connection with the patron, to allow him to spy on the employees.

The hero falls in love – or so he thinks for a while – with the wife of the shop owner, Fabienne Tabard, who would overhear the young man as he sings her praises and defends her in a conversation with a girl from the shop.

In a conversation with the woman he admires, or he just craves sexually, he refers to her as if she were a…man and in response, though he jumps up from the seat, walks out from the shop and even wants to be given another task, the woman would respond in kind…

Madame Tabard walks to the reception, looks into the book of employees, finds the address of the newcomer, buys three ties and then walks to his flat, where she says serenely that she would get into…his bed.

Yes, if after a couple of hours they see that there is nothing further to this, they would just walk out and never see each other again, in what looks like flower power, hippy, or just French revolutionary fashion…