DaVinci & Truffaut [movie commentary]
So The DaVinci Code is out and had the second-highest worldwide opening ever. The reviews are mixed; but not as far as Ebert and Roeper are concerned. "2 Thumbs Up!" Having not read the book, or seen the movie, I'm not qualified to comment on either. As readers of this blog know, I like my seemingly-unrelated segues in my articles. So here goes!
Tonight I watched an old French movie, Jules and Jim. It's a classic that I've watched several times over the years. The DVD containing the movie also contained an interview of director Francois Truffaut. For those not in the know, he's a film legend. Modern-day greats like Scorsese and Spielberg were influenced by him.
In this interview, Truffaut discusses the original book by Henri-Pierre Roche. An art-lover, Roche spent his life travelling the world. He was the first to bring Picasso's art to America. When bedridden at age 73, he decided to write his first book, an autobiography set 50 years in his past. Roche never witnessed the much-celebrated movie, and eventual success of his book. Though Truffaut was saddened by the author's death, he was happy that the book became successful after the movie:
"...there's often something immoral when cinema has its way with a well-known book. Sometimes the film is good, but it's always exploiting the book's fame. Here I was able to do the opposite: With my film, I introduced people to what was really an unknown masterpiece."
The DaVinci Code movie, good or not, has successfully capitalized on the book's success. In Hollywood, precedent is everything. Just as in the 1990's we saw a flood of cinem-ized TV shows (Mission: Impossible still haunts the movie landscape), we are likely to see more movies based on popular books in the coming years.
Tonight I watched an old French movie, Jules and Jim. It's a classic that I've watched several times over the years. The DVD containing the movie also contained an interview of director Francois Truffaut. For those not in the know, he's a film legend. Modern-day greats like Scorsese and Spielberg were influenced by him.
In this interview, Truffaut discusses the original book by Henri-Pierre Roche. An art-lover, Roche spent his life travelling the world. He was the first to bring Picasso's art to America. When bedridden at age 73, he decided to write his first book, an autobiography set 50 years in his past. Roche never witnessed the much-celebrated movie, and eventual success of his book. Though Truffaut was saddened by the author's death, he was happy that the book became successful after the movie:
"...there's often something immoral when cinema has its way with a well-known book. Sometimes the film is good, but it's always exploiting the book's fame. Here I was able to do the opposite: With my film, I introduced people to what was really an unknown masterpiece."
The DaVinci Code movie, good or not, has successfully capitalized on the book's success. In Hollywood, precedent is everything. Just as in the 1990's we saw a flood of cinem-ized TV shows (Mission: Impossible still haunts the movie landscape), we are likely to see more movies based on popular books in the coming years.
posted by strangway at
4:59 AM
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