François Truffaut
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There was a time, many geological eras ago, when certain presumptuous film criticism delivered harsh judgments towards films that seemed to fall into the category of minor works by great auteurs. Judgments that, in hindsight, appear unfair as well as a demonstration of solemn blunders made by these pundits of criticism. Here is a paradigmatic case in this sense such as "Stolen Kisses" directed by François Truffaut in 1968, which was branded as being not only a secondary film but also indicative of a certain bourgeoisification on the part of one of the fathers of the Nouvelle vague. A film, therefore, that shared with many other contemporaries only the date of production and distribution, without however belonging to the category of innovative films of '68 and its surroundings. And yet...

The plot of "Stolen Kisses" focuses on the new existential adventures of Antoine Doinel (played by the great actor Jean Pierre Leaud) already at the center of previous Truffaut films ("The 400 Blows" and "Love at Twenty"), a sort of Truffaut’s celluloid alter ego. The protagonist is literally on the streets of Paris, as he is discharged from the army after three unfruitful years of voluntary service, due to character instability and operational unreliability. The officer, who hands over the discharge paper to Doinel, does not mince words in expressing relief at his removal from the army, into which the young man had entered to forget a finished love. Moreover, following this discharge, finding a job will be impossible in public administration and even in large companies. Perhaps Doinel will have to be content with temporary jobs, maybe as a street vendor of ties in the central streets of Paris (a perspective not attractive at all).

But it is not like him to resign, and after casually meeting the parents of Christine Darbon (his old flame) he is supported in finding a job first as a hotel concierge, then as an apprentice detective in a well-known investigative agency. But as much as Doinel appears willing, he fails to be up to the tasks assigned to him, so much so that one might even doubt his adaptability to the work sphere. Truffaut presents the young man nevertheless in a light of understanding and sympathy, almost to emphasize the sclerotic and rigid nature of the work world, and beyond, he is entering. And finally, the protagonist, towards the end of the film, will begin to make ends meet as a TV set repair and maintenance technician. And it is due to a request for a technical intervention that Doinel will encounter the ever-desired Christine again, with whom to crown his dreams of love. Needless to say, a romantic happy ending is in sight, in accordance with a certain moralistic perspective...

I mentioned earlier the cold reception received by "Stolen Kisses" at its time, almost as if it were an uncommitted work tied to private themes, contrary to the themes favored by the cinema of that time. Yet, when filming began on February 5, 1968, Truffaut wisely chose to initially frame the barred entrance of the Cinemateque francaise bearing the notice of an upcoming reopening decided by the Ministry of Culture. The director’s reference to current events is evident, as the then Minister of Culture André Malraux had decided to dismiss Henri Langlois, director of the Cinemateque, to replace him with someone more agreeable to the then Gaullist government. This decision had sparked strong protests from many French cinema people, highlighting a widespread societal discontent towards the prevailing system. The student movements of May 1968, as is well known, would then follow.

It is therefore appropriate for Truffaut to give us an overview of the times within which to narrate Antoine Doinel's apprenticeship to life. To the notes of a famous and melancholic tune by Charles Trenet ("Que reste-t-il de nos amours" dating from 1942), the director seems to draw on that sentimental French cinema of the 30s and 40s (the so-called "cinema de papa") to remind us of the fleeting and fallible nature of youth.

Precisely in a decade like the '60s, where young people were encouraged to take the lead and to move aside the "matusa", "Stolen Kisses" highlights not only the eternal conflict between generations but above all the difficulty of being absorbed by the prevailing social system with its strict logic. It is always the eternal dilemma for young generations: to try to change the world or end up being absorbed by it? Antoine Doinel will end up swallowed into the usual grey routine made of children to raise, not at all rewarding jobs, water, light, and gas bills to pay, in a sort of interior rigor mortis standardized condition. A destiny that he shares with many others, even many of his peers who at the time were attending the University of Sorbonne in Paris and went on permanent strike against bourgeois society. They were then bent on making '68 in France and the entire world, but later they would inevitably fall back in line without realizing a revolution according to Marxist-Leninist dictates, but perhaps impacting the change of customs and mindset of modern bourgeois society.

Not for nothing, when "Stolen Kisses" was released in French cinemas on September 6, 1968, the May 1968 protests were over, the government of General De Gaulle was still in power, and the latter would resign only the following year, making way for the grey heir Georges Pompidou. Thus, in hindsight, "Stolen Kisses" can be considered a work imbued not only with a certain spirit of that time but also a kind of farewell to both a particular historical season and an unrepeatable age of life such as carefree youth. And as such still worthy of being lived with all its naivety and impetuosity. It is then time and external circumstances that will change who was young. And it may well happen, as Trenet sang in that song mentioned above, that one will ask: "what remains of our loves? What remains of these beautiful days? A photo, an old photo of my youth..."