Quentin Tarantino loves cinema, but not everything. In particular, he has a deep aversion for one of the most famous French directors. An author he had already tackled in the novelization of “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”.
Quentin Tarantino shoots live ammunition
Quentin Tarantino is known to be a great cinephile and to reuse his knowledge in his films. References to works and genres to which he pays homage by reclaiming them. Perhaps the most prominent example is Kill Bill Vol 1 (2003), which looks to Hong Kong martial arts cinema, while the Volume 2 (2004) relies more on the spaghetti western.
More recently, the director of pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs has once again rewritten history with Once Upon a Time… in Hollywoodwhich focuses on a television actor on the decline in the late 1960s. A period marked, in real life, by the murder of Sharon Tate (August 9, 1969) by members of the sect of Charles Manson .
Tarantino’s tastes and influences are therefore varied. But while we hear him, in general, especially defending a work, there is an author for whom the American filmmaker does not hide his dislike. It was during an interview for Sight and Sound that he gave his opinion on one of the greatest French directors: Francois Truffaut.
Chabrol’s thrillers are much better than the dreadful Hitchcock-like Truffaut movies, which I find just plain rubbish. I’m not a fan of Truffaut, despite a few exceptions, such as The Story of Adèle H. But in general, I feel with Truffaut as with Ed Wood. I find him to be a very passionate, but clumsy amateur.
François Truffaut, a great author of the New Wave
A clear opinion on which there would be many reasons to disagree. Already because François Truffaut’s cinema is quite broad and is not limited to Hitchcock-style thrillers. The French filmmaker has a real variety in his filmography, ranging from the love triangle with Jules and Jim (1962) to the great historical work that is The Last Metro (1980), passing through the revenge film with The bride was in black (which has something in common with Kill Bill)the delicious black comedy A beautiful girl like me (1972) or even the homage to cinema that is The American night (1973).
In addition, we will have fun taking up Steven Spielberg’s improbable intervention in gold memberrecalling that his friends Oscars and Caesar de Truffaut will certainly not share this opinion. The French filmmaker has been rewarded many times, notably receiving the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with The American nightand the Césars for Best Film and Director for The Last Metro.
Obviously, in the end, everyone’s tastes and colors are unique. It’s still nice to see Quentin Tarantino give his opinion without jargon, whether or not we share his opinion. Also remember that this is not the first time he has paid the Frenchman. Already in the novelization of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywoodhe wrote that his character of Cliff Booth (the stuntman played on screen by Brad Pitt) was a big fan of cinema but hated Francois Truffaut.
Tarantino therefore has a particular distaste for Truffaut, which did not prevent him from paying homage to another famous name of the new wave in the person of Jean-Luc Godard. He indeed named his production company A Band Apart in reference to the film Keeping to himself (1964).
