The Soft Skin

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Alain E An excellent melodrama about infidelity. Interesting also as illustrative of what made a frumpy literary critic a hot commodity in France in the sixties. In any event our supposedly happily married male hero meets an attractive flight attendant while flying to deliver a lecture in Portugal. Doing most his thinking with his lower head, he starts an affair that eventually destroys his marriage. Even worse, the girlfriend realizes that he is not a very good prospect and she splits. In the final scene the rejected wife gives an American style ending. The restored print shows well the excellent black and white photography. At that point Francoise Dorleac had just three more years to live. The acting is very good and the story is delivered with absolutely no nudity. Similar to the Hays code period in US during a sexual encounter that occurs off screen, we see a kitten eating from the breakfast tray. A new symbolism for me. On Max. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 07/03/25 Full Review Will G A great French film. Francois Truffaut is a wonderful director. There is romance. It was nice to see France. A couple goes to Portugal. Also there is an affair. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 05/16/25 Full Review Abe A It's a good movie overall, but it's not necessarily ground-breaking and I found the end rather melodramatic. An alternate ending with a far more insightful take on Pierre's character opened itself up to Truffaut at the final phone booth scene, but either he missed it or he chose not to take it. Pretty chilling to know that the actress who played Nicole, Francois Dorleac, would die in a car accident three years later. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/14/24 Full Review Audience Member Hilário as intempéries do protagonista com a amante, um anti-herói de caráter duvidoso, torci para que terminasse só, por sua antipatia, mas eu não esperava por esse desfecho fantástico, a sutil relação do casal ante a economia de energia elétrica e os interruptores, situações realistas num triângulo amoroso não consensual, Panair do Brasil, pioneira da aviação, atuante no filme, falida e cassada por questões políticas… Eclesiastes 9:18 "...um só pecador destrói muitos bens". Filme maravilhoso. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Audience Member The Soft Skin could have easily been titled “The Tangled Web” or something along those lines, considering the old adage about the dangers of lying. It’s an extremely straightforward story about a husband who strays with another woman, and the complexity of this new relationship. I always struggle with films about infidelity, and this was no different. I found myself constantly annoyed and frustrated with the main character. But when he encountered obstacles in his efforts to build up this affair, I was chuckling at his misfortune because I was so opposed to the entire thing from the beginning. In other words, while I was kind of annoyed that he seemed allergic to telling the truth (even when it would obviously improve his situation,) it didn’t bother me so much to watch his bad choices blow up in his face. I suppose one of the positives I could draw from The Soft Skin is the fact that it serves as a morality tale of sorts for people who might find themselves in a similar position. By addressing some of the downfalls that can come from cheating on your spouse, it can potentially teach others that it’s not a road they want to go down. That’s not exactly a lesson I need to learn, but I can appreciate a movie that makes it so abundantly clear for others. I can also commend the acting performances. It wasn’t exactly an enjoyable experience, but part of that is because it felt real. The trio of lead actors did an admirable job of embodying their roles and making the characters authentic. I can’t say I liked The Soft Skin all that much, and I probably won’t recommend it, but it was effective at telling a story so others might find it considerably more impactful if they care more about this kind of plot. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/06/21 Full Review Audience Member Falling just after Truffaut's masterpieces (The 400 Blows, 1959; Jules and Jim, 1962), The Soft Skin also shows the creative techniques that were the hallmark of the Nouvelle Vague. Jean Desailly plays an author/publisher who has an affair with Françoise Dorléac, a stewardess (to use the 1960s term); the film documents, from his perspective, how he navigates the necessary secrecy and juggles the various people who can't find out (including his wife and small daughter). I read somewhere that the plot echoes circumstances from Truffaut's own life (he was divorced in 1965) and the film seems sympathetic toward Desailly's character - or at least tries to convey his emotional experiences. Truffaut uses editing and sound magnificently to capture the excitement of the elicit rendezvous and the anxiety related to the risks and inevitable discovery. You can see his debt and homage to Hitchcock in the best sequences here (and indeed his interviews with Hitch that formed the basis of the famous book had occurred two years earlier). However, it is impossible to shake the sordid inappropriateness of the actions here, by both Desailly and Dorléac - our identification with them is undermined by our rejection of their actions. One wonders how much Truffaut himself is complicit in supporting the moral transgressions on display - until the shock ending, which seems to negate everything that has gone before (or provide an easy out for that seeming complicity). Apparently, this film was booed at the Cannes Film Festival but the craft on display makes it worthwhile even if the content matter is unpalatable. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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