Love on the Run

Francois Truffaut ended his Antoine Doiniel saga with Love on the Run, in 1979. Truffaut said he was dissatisfied with the film, and though it has a certain charm, he was right. The film ends up being a summation of the films before, and doesn't offer any new insights into the character. As Truffaut pointed out, Antoine never evolves.

The film starts on the day of Antoine's (once again, Jean-Pierre Leaud) divorce from Christine (Claude Jade). They have amicably split, but Jade has had enough of his affairs and self-centeredness. Antoine is now living with a record-shop employee, Sabine (Dorothee). But when he runs into his old girlfriend, Colette (Marie-France Pisier) he impulsively hops on a train with her. She has been reading his book, a barely fictional account of his life, which has been told in the four previous Doiniel films.

The double-edged sword here is that Truffaut was able to use film clips from those films: The 400 Blows, Antoine and Collette (called Love at 20 in France), Stolen Kisses, and Bed and Board. When Antoine remembers something, we can see a film clip of it, as when he lies about his mother dying in The 400 Blows, or when he has an affair with a Japanese woman in Bed and Board. But having seen those films in the last few days, it has the effect of being a highlight reel, not a real movie. Antoine is still self-centered--Pisier tells him so--and his relationship with Sabine is based on a serendipitous, albeit romantic, coincidence.

The one spark here is that Pisier, who co-wrote the script, gives herself a subplot involving her defending a child murderer. Though I appreciate the attempt to give one of Antoine's woman a life beyond him, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

It's a shame the series ended on such a flat note. The closing credits are intercut with scenes of young Antoine from The 400 Blows, laughing as he spins around in a carousel. That's moving, but could have meant so much more with a stronger film.

Truffaut definitively stated that Love on the Run was the last Doiniel picture. Sadly, he died in 1984, so there was no chance to go back on that proclamation.