Der Mann, der die Frauen liebte

Towards the end of the film, the main character, Bertrand, a singular individual obsessed with women (a lot) and literature (a little), says, in a serious voice-over at night, in a room whose only light comes from a fireplace, the very soul of the film: "Then the desire took me to read the memoirists of the last century. How should you write when you talk about yourself? How had the others done? What were the rules? I realized that there are no rules, that each book is different and expresses the personality of its author. Every page, every sentence of any writer belongs to him. His handwriting is as personal to him as his fingerprints." The film, not very easy to like at first due to its repetitive side (Bertrand remembers different women he has known in his life) and a little bland (not much happens, really), captivates and gradually fascinates by its idiosyncratic nature, by a half-energetic, half-melancholic tone which cannot be anything else than the intimate expression of the work and personality of François Truffaut, by its subtle fade to black shots emphasizing the proud independence of the main character, by its rich literary tone. This is, for me, an inferior film to the magnificent 'The Mississippi Mermaid' which successfully combined this level of inner depth with an exciting film noir storyline, but it is no less a fascinating film due to its intimate authenticity. At one point a doctor says to Bertrand: "Nothing is more beautiful than seeing the publication of a book that you have written, nothing is more beautiful. Except perhaps giving birth to a child that we carried for nine months in our womb. But we are not capable of that, well, not yet." A fade to black shot deliciously placed there underlines the beauty of this profession of faith by François Truffaut on the essential importance of artistic production. He is no longer here, but his work speaks for him...

Another terrific character driven movie, François Truffaut creates a story that makes you laugh as well as cry. Charles Denner stars as a fan of the ladies. More than that, he is in great need of woman so much that is ends up to be his doom. The movie begins at the end, with the funeral. Like Hitchcock, François Truffaut makes a cameo at the beginning as his trademark. From there, we begin to see who this man was and why is urge for women caused his death. A very sexy film for 1977, it is still as funny today than it was almost 30 years ago. Unlike American movies, it is very difficult to have a scene with just words and no action. Many scenes in the movie are one shot scenes with nothing but pages of words, words and more words. This is the movie's strong point, besides having several beautiful women. The language (not just French) in the movie is powerful to its audience. It speaks to both men and women.

This is one of the most interesting conceptions of a man who spent all his career and life questioning the very conception of cinema and what it meant in every moment. After the adventure of french new wave of the 60's, Truffaut matured and, to me, he started producing his more focused work. He basically produced some films which were essays on cinema, as well as autobiographical depictions of his thoughts.

So, we have a film about storytelling. A womanizer who writes the story of his life. Every woman in his life is, herself, a story. So the pleasure of being involved with a woman maps the will Truffaut has to tell a story. The fact that Morane writes all the stories, and makes one single big form (a book) with them enhances this.

The woman editor has an important role. She is the key character that Truffaut places above Morane, and she annotates and comments on the whole structure. Her remarks on Morane's book and personality may as well be taken as commentaries on the very film, and of its director. She is self-reference, she is Truffaut commenting on himself, thus adding reflexivity to the film. That's why she observes that Morane, the writer, doesn't reject the "details" others wouldn't notice, and she literally says that he is basically a storyteller. Also, she is the one who remarks the fact that Morane's funeral is the perfect ending to the story. I saw all this as reflexive annotations on the very structure of the film and, more generally, on the nature of Truffaut's cinema. He was through all his life a storyteller, and above any pleasure he took in making a film, there was the pleasure of narrating. Also he took a special interest in filming details, something i think he took from Hitchcock. The hand dialing phone numbers, or turning the pages in the address book, that sort of thing.

Morane's funeral, which opens and closes the film, gathers all the women around him. It is, like the editor (the second narrator) told, a praising of Morane's life, the recognizing of his qualities, the celebration of his life (cinema).

This and "La nuit américaine" are so far the best built films by Truffaut that i saw. Many times i think that Truffaut (and Godard!) has spent to much time around things which were not that important, like school kids discussing football teams. But in certain points, he made important contributions to the evolving of cinematic narrative. This is one of them.

My opinion: 4/5

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If this movie had JUST been about the sexual escapades of the main character, I would have hated it. After all, this is a man whose entire existence is based on bedding women--and this alone would have made a boring movie. Instead, it shows the emotional shallowness of this character and his complete inability to be close to another person--and its ultimate impact on him. He doesn't see this as a problem, but during the latter part of the movie, its impact on him becomes apparent. I particularly liked the unexpected ending. As the movie begins, it is at his funeral, so you KNOW he will die but HOW is the real interesting twist.

About the only thing I did not like about the movie was the episodic nature. Sometimes it was a little hard to keep track of all the women. Perhaps this was unintentional, as there were a LOT of women in this man's life! Of course, it did serve to illustrate his problem!!

Each film by François Truffaut is like an antithesis for its predecessor (Shoot the Piano Player for The 400 Blows, Jules et Jim for Shoot the Piano Player etc.) but The Man Who Loved Women (1977) isn't really the opposite of Small Change (1976) but more like The Story of Adele H. (1975) turned upside down. First of all, the protagonist of The Story of Adele H. is a woman and the protagonist of The Man Who Loved Women is a man. However, despite the tragical intensity of The Story of Adele H. and the light comedy of The Man Who Loved Women both films deal with sexual obsessions. In the former film, the woman is madly in love with a man from whom she can't get response. In turn, the latter is all about a man who doesn't believe in true love and therefore goes from one brief relationship to another.

The Man Who Loved Women (1977) might just be Truffaut's funniest comedy but, what is more, it also presents an insightful picture of an obsessive womanizer Bertrand, brilliantly played by Charles Denner. Just like The Story of Adele H., it is also a story about an independent character who is a victim of his own obsession. In addition, in the background of both stories there is an abandonment (made by a mother or a lover), both protagonists try to imitate their parents in one way or another and are inevitably going to face destruction, both stories are also recorded to personal memoirs and both of them have separate prologue and epilogue sequences.

Already in the very beginning of The Man Who Loved Women we are told that the protagonist has died and at the cemetery we enter a long flashback which equals most of the film. However, before we enter this flashback we see women walking to the cemetery but also Truffaut himself passing by, which is a clear statement that the film knows that it is fiction. As if he was sealing the deal. It is consciously exaggerated romanticism, so to speak. This idea is also highlighted by the fact that the protagonist starts to change his memories when he decides to write an autobiographical novel. His whole life is fiction.

Usually, Truffaut portraits fatal women who lead their lovers to death and destruction (Jules and Jim, The Bride Wore Black) but in this case the man is the dangerous character who lures women. However, in reality he is much more destructive for himself than for the women he loves. His obsession seems to be some sort of a defense mechanism against the vulnerability which hunts many of Truffaut's characters who are often abandoned by a cold mother (The 400 Blows).

As said, Bertrand is a victim of his own obsession and just like the dogmatism of Catherine, from Jules et Jim, so is the obsession of Bertrand an absolute prelude for death. He is constantly tied to his own madness. He loves to watch women and even points out that "women's legs are like compass points, circling the globe." Although, this rather plain concept gets an intriguing twist because Bertrand actually sees the seductive legs of women everywhere -- even where there aren't any; like in the outrageous scene at the airport -- and they also seal his destiny.

Besides youth and innocence, love was a repeating theme throughout Truffaut's career and that is why he is often called the romantic of the French New Wave. In his world, love was a dominant force which restricted the lives of people. But it also appears to us as kind and patient. The Man Who Loved Women was Truffaut's tribute, not only to women, but to love. In the director's personal love life, he had several lovers but no life partners. Although, Truffaut wasn't a womanizer by any means he said that he never stopped loving his former lovers. As if relationships were transient but love was eternal.