The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

246 Neil LaBute
The Soft Skin
1964
Directed by François Truffaut
Starring Jean Desailly and Françoise Dorléac
How would you describe The Soft Skin to someone who has never
seen it?
LaBute: It’s a fairly distinctive approach and certainly at the time, a very
modern one, to a classic love triangle. It’s a dissection of a marriage and an
adulterous relationship, as well as a study of a man who ultimately is unable
to choose between the two.
And do you remember when you saw the film? Did you see it in the
theater?
LaBute: I didn’t see it projected—I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it projected.
And that’s a real shame. I think it’s a film like a lot of the films that
I admire. They’re not driven so much by, “Oh do you remember that one
shot?” so much as, “Do you remember the feeling the film left you with?”
or “Weren’t you impressed by the incisive character? The detailed character
analysis or the dialogue?” They’re really driven by other concerns rather
than purely visual, although I think it’s visually a quite striking film.
Do you remember the details of when you saw it and what initial effect
it had on you?
LaBute: I think I saw it in a film class years ago. Brigham Young University
had a great program where they showed films constantly. All the arts that
they had were, I think, to keep students from dallying with one another, to
keep them busy. So there was always a plethora of music and theater and
film, so I took great advantage of that rather than my fellow students. And
so constantly I saw a number of films, and I may have seen it first there.
Previous to watching The Soft Skin, it was described as a film that was
a lesser known piece of work, and at the time of its release it was seen as a
disappointment, because of the artistic high of the first few films—The 400
Blows, Shoot the Piano Player, and Jules et Jim. By comparison, The Soft Skin
seemed fairly straightforward, slow, and dour in some ways, and cold.