Ode, to erstwhile love.

Stolen Kisses  (Francois Truffaut, 1968)  a.k.a.  Baisers Volés

In The 400 Blows, Francois Truffaut introduced us to Antoine Doinel, a character which he holds so dear because Antoine is the cinematic expression of his own self. The 12-year old Doinel in Truffaut's first full-length feature film reflects his own bitter childhood experiences from the broken home, dropping out of school and being thrown into jail. Truffaut made a short which is a part of L'Amour à vingt ans (Love at Twenty), Antoine et Collette, which chronicles Antoine's first love experience. In Baisers volés (Stolen Kisses), the story supposedly left off from a military camp where Antoine was detained and dismissed because of being unfit and useless.

Jean Pierre Leaud reprises his role as Antoine, now grown up but clearly exhibits the same boyishness and childlike brashness as the twelve-year old boy. Seeing him get caught up in usual misfits on a grander scale is enough to put you on a nostalgic mode - where you see the young Antoine in the memorable beach scene in 400 Blows. Despite the official declaration in his dismissal letter that he is considered psychologically unfit for any job, Antoine effortlessly shifts from one job to another, four in fact, throughout the entire duration of the film. 

When he visits Christine, his one-time fiancée, Christine's father offered him his first job, a hotel porter which after a cunning display of wits would lead him to work as an undercover agent with the help of veteran detective whom he helped solved a particular case. Not long before he is assigned to one of the agency's weird case. He has to take on impersonating a salesboy in the shoe shop owned by a certain Mr. Tabard, who confesses that he strongly feels he is being watched. While working in the store, he alleges that Mme. Tabard is having an affair, only to be seduced by the wife whose casual exchanges with Antoine are both funny and sensual. Mme. Tabard, who may not be fifty-ish at first glance and who does not resemble such body for a woman her age, appears at Antoine's doorstep, adamant that both of them should make love.

Despite the preoccupation of his work and his brief and comical encounters with the opposite sex (fresh from Army dismissal he hires a hooker who wouldn't let him kiss her and some time dates a a woman six inches taller than him), the film ultimately tags us along Antoine's pursuit for Christine and their venture towards marriage - a very romantic proposal at that which at first does not appear to be what it seems. It is important that we see a balance between Antoine's work and personal life because Truffaut would want us to see Antoine as perfectionist and romantic but hard to commit. 

Truffaut never oversentimentalizes on the romantic pursuit preventing it from being mushy or melodramatic and presents each scene with effective economy that each has a definitive impact. For instance, the concluding scene is one of memorable and surprising but not the irrational kind. It has no place in the on-and -off love story of Antoine and Christine but it kind of puts a unique stamp to the character of Antoine. Antoine's declaration that the man who comes up to both of them while sitting on a porch one sunny day and confesses to Christine that he has been tailing her for a long time and confesses his love for her, 'must be mad' is an affirmation of his erstwhile character and his definitive transition to maturity. Antoine's story. for me, will perhaps be the most enjoyable and significant coming-of-age tale that can only be made memorable and lingering in the hands of its master steerer.