(L’amour en fuite, François Truffaut, France 1979, 94 min., 35mm, French with English subtitles)
Things get complex in the finale to Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel film series. In this kaleidoscopic remix of Doinel’s life, it becomes clear that Antoine Doinel is neither simply a depiction of Truffaut nor is he Jean-Pierre Léaud, but is a fictional character “situated somewhere between the two”. In Stolen Kisses, Truffaut employed the actress Claude Jade to play the stand-in for his wife, but then fell in love with the actress, and cheated on his actual wife. But then in Bed & Board he depicts himself cheating on his wife, and by Love on the Run, he has already begun another affair and has separated from Claude Jade. But things are further complicated when one looks closer at the flashback structure of Love on the Run as Truffaut has incorporated footage of Jean-Pierre Léaud in other films, and presents them as flashbacks of Doinel! The film, then, becomes a fascinating exercise in postmodernism, where identity and truth are constantly morphing.
