fredrikvarenius

I can't remember the last time I read a big long biography in its entirety, but I should really read them more often because I enjoyed this one a lot. To the extent that since I finished it a few days ago, I've been kinda missing my ol' buddy Francois and a few times have caught myself absentmindedly wondering what project and/or love affair he is in the middle of today. Though he (SPOILER! LOLZ) died pretty young, he lived a really full, accomplished life and really put his whole heart into every one of the projects that he worked on. And since Truffaut pretty much lived out my most idealistic dream career in real life (nationally renowned writer turned world renowned filmmaker...shit, man), I enjoyed being able to vicariously ride the trajectory of his success. Especially in 1959, what a year for him! Though not written exceptionally well, the book did a pretty great job of filling in a lot of little details about his life, especially in the early years. I was most fascinated by Truffaut's countless affairs with basically every one of his leading ladies, his complete inability to be in a stable relationship with a woman, and his bizarrely heartwarming relationship with Madeline Morgenstern, who he divorced around 1962 but went back to a few times throughout his life and ultimately moved back in with when he was dying of a brain tumor. All in all, I loved reading this book and will probably spend the rest of the summer trying to watch all of his films that I haven't seen.

2020-08-20 19:47