Shoot the Piano Player

Francois Truffaut's second film was Shoot the Piano Player, released in 1960. Though highly regarded today, it was a flop with the general audience. It was firmly within the French New Wave, as it employed voiceovers, jump cuts, and an appreciation for American film noir. I've seen it three times now, and though it doesn't seem like much while watching it, it kind of sneaks up on you and when it's over you've realized you've seen something magical.

Based on an American pulp novel, Shoot the Piano Player deals with Charlie (Charles Aznavour), a pianist in a bar. We will learn that he was a concert pianist by the name of Edouard Saroyan, but a personal tragedy led him to hiding his identity and raising his much younger brother, content with wasting his talent.

Stumbling into his life comes his older brother (a very funny Albert Remy), who, along with another brother, has fleeced a couple of hapless thugs, who are now chasing after him. The thugs (Ernest and Momo) use Charlie to try to get him to reveal his brothers' location, and while the overall tone is comic, the consequences are deadly.

Shoot the Piano Player, though on the surface a simple crime tale that can be summarized in two minutes, is nonetheless complex in its dealings with human themes. To start is the notion of what is to be an artist, as Charlie thinks of himself as one, though he squandered his talent. We see an extended flashback of his time with his wife (Nicole Berger), who is a waitress in a cafe. Charlie learns that she slept with an impresario in order to further his career, and though his inner voice tells him to forgive her, he can not, and this leads her suicide.

The film also deals with second chances, as Charlie enters a romance with another waitress (Marie Dubois). When the two of them are taken by Ernest and Momo, they seem to share a sense of adventure, as neither takes the thugs very seriously, even if they are armed.

Finally, this is Truffaut's tribute to film noir, though at times is parodic. The opening scenes see Remy fleeing from Ernest and Momo, but he runs smack into a lightpost. He ends up being helped by a good Samaritan, and the two have a pleasant conversation about marriage. Remy says he would like to be married, and the Samaritan says, "You say that like you mean it."

The end is a shootout outside a snowy cabin, which seems to be included as much for necessity as anything else. One character dies, their body elegantly skidding down a snowy slope.

Above all, the film is funny. There's one gag worthy of Mel Brooks--Momo (or was it Ernest?) says "If I am lying, may my mother keel over right this instant." We then get an iris shot of an old woman, keeling over. It's also sexy, with Charlie's next door neighbor, a prostitute played by Michele Mercier, showing off a spectacular set of breasts.

Aznavour was famous in France as a singer, known as the French Frank Sinatra. He has a perfect look for film noir, with beetle eyes, a bantamweight who is sure of himself, even with his personal demons. I was surprised to learn that in a CNN worldwide poll, he was named entertainer of the century, beating out Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan.