I've been reflecting on this film a lot in the last 18 hours period, probably because last night I tried but gave up on director Philippe Garrel's personal interpretation of the French New Wave called Regular Lovers. I just couldnt get into it for some reason, which led me to dream about French New Wave classics I really DO dig. Which of course brought me to Francois Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player. My last thoughts before falling asleep were about the structure, feeling and mood of this wonderful film.
Charlie Kohler, a retiring piano player in a cheap Parisian dance bar, rears his youngest brother, Fido, with the help of a prostitute neighbor, Clarisse, who has also been Charlie's mistress. Two other brothers, Chico and Richard, seek help from Charlie in escaping from Momo and Ernest, two gangsters whom they have doublecrossed over some stolen money. To avoid the gangsters, Charlie takes refuge at the apartment of Léna, a waitress at the cafe, who has fallen in love with him and discovered his hidden past. Years before, he had been a brilliant concert pianist, Edouard Saroyan. His obsession with his career prompted his wife, Théresa, to reveal that she had given him his first chance at fame by submitting to the sexual demands of an impresario. Edouard walked out on her, but returned to the apartment on a premonition and found that Théresa had committed suicide. Shattered, he abandoned his career, changed his name, and became a haunted man with a single aim--to avoid trouble.
Throwback Sundays this week remembers Shoot the Piano Player:
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