La Peau Douce

Pierre Lachenay (Jean Desailly) is a renowned Balzac specialist and a married father. However, during a lecture tour he encounters the irresistible air hostess Nicole and an affair quickly blooms with inevitably damaging results.

Essentially a story of adultery and male-female relationships, Truffaut directs La Peau douce with a pace and urgency more reminiscent of a Hitchcock thriller. Truffaut (and Nouvelle Vague) regulars George Delerue and Raoul Coutard enhance this effect through their evocative music and fluid photography respectively.

Jean Desailly and Nelly Benedetti impress as Pierre and his wife Franca, but it is the stunning Françoise Dorléac, sister of Catherine Deneuve, who lingers most in the memory. She tragically died following the completion of this film.