cover image Finally Truffaut

Finally Truffaut

Don Allen. Beaufort Books, $12.95 (240pp) ISBN 978-0-8253-0336-4

Head of media at the West London Institute of Higher Education, Allen is a film producer who first analyzed the late French director's work in Truffaut (1974). This new ""film-by-film guide'' updates the earlier book, adding nine chapters and a new introduction to cover all 22 features. Allen asserts that Truffaut's films ``are always about himself'' and ``always about love, in some form or other.'' Emphasizing the five films in the Antoine Doinel cycle, Allen explores this love/friendship theme, the ``muted pessimism'' and the autobiographical thread. The author's access to private papers and his 15-year friendship with Truffaut give a special importance to the critical insights. The book concludes with a detailed filmography and a chapter on Truffaut's unrealized projects. (March)