Poor Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud)... he stalks Collette (Marie-France Pisier) like any teenager follows a girl around. They keep bumping into each other, and he realizes she must live nearby. AND... they both appreciate music. She DOES string him along, and Antoine does everything he can to impress her and observe her every move. We watch as Antoine goes through the usual teen angst, trying to win over the woman he loves and hoping for the best. Truffaut had been in the business almost ten years when he made this, and one wonders if this was from his own life experiences; it WAS also written by him. Truffaut was nominated three times for Director and Writing... and sadly died young at 52. Did you notice Truffaut as "the French scientist" in Close Encounters ? One of the last roles he played as an actor. Antoine et Collette is pretty good. It's a bit dated, when they explain how records are made (records?? what are those ?) Showing on Turner Classics now and then. Pretty good. some sadness, like all good Truffaut films!

Isn't it the purest and most beautiful thing ever? In this short film, François Truffaut takes us into the lives of Antoine and Colette and shows us how they experience their first love. Or do they really? He works in a record store and sees her during a concert. Not much later, the two get closer and spend their free time together. She's still doing her Bac at that point and is impressed by his independence. So are her parents and his dad approves particularly seeing himself in the young man when he was that age. He writes her a love letter, she is flattered and the two spend the night at the movies where he's finally ready to make the decisive move and kiss her. Could it all be true?It's French and it's black and white. That should actually be enough information already for you to decide if you like it. It's not among my favorite short films, but I thought it still made a good watch with a quite realistic ending, even it was a bit of a bummer for my romantic self. It's pretty charming and what I probably liked most about it was how innocent its tone was from start to finish with both lead actors being under 18 when Truffaut shot the film. Pisier's untimely death makes me a bit sad, but I'm glad she left us this and many other films as a heritage. Recommended.

Curiously and unusually, instead of a full-length movie, Monsieur Truffaut made a short out of the 2nd film about Antoine Doinel. The following 3 sequels are full-length movies and colored, while this one is still in black and white. In all of the 5 movies, Antoine Doinel is portrayed by Jean Pierre-Léaud.This one takes place 3 years after the events of the original. Antoine Doinel is now 17 years old, lives alone, has a passion for music (especially opera and classical music) and a job: he manufactures LPs at Phillips. His friend René, from 'The 400 Blows', is back and still portrayed by Patrick Auffay. Antoine and René are still great friends.Antoine experiences for the first time what it's like to be in love. He falls in love with a girl named Colette who, unlike him, is still a student. Colette has a nice family who supports both her and Antoine. However, his happiness doesn't last, as Colette obviously doesn't love him.Like 'The 400 Blows', this 'Antoine et Colette' is also an autobiographical work for Truffaut, based on events of his own life at the age of 17.Overall, a decent sequel to 'The 400 Blows', although naturally not as good. Even though I like 'The 400 Blows' much better, there's nothing overly negative to criticize about this follow-up, except for one small detail: René said a few times he was in love with his cousin. I hope I have misunderstood what I thought I heard. Wasn't that practice banned like centuries ago? I can't imagine such thing still happening in 1962.

I have been looking for a copy of "Stolen Kisses" for some time, and so I was glad I finally found it--or thought I'd found it. While my sole reason for wanting to see it was to see the Truffaut segment featuring the character "Antoine Doinel", I was VERY surprised to see a DVD with ONLY this 30 minute portion from the movie on it--along with a Truffaut short, Les Mistons! What about the segments from Love At Twenty by Ophuls and the other directors? They were nowhere to be seen on the FOX/Lorber DVD! The same can be said about the DVD extra for "The 400 Blows"--it has the Doinel short but none of the rest of the film. Quel dommage! Now, in regard to the Antoine Doinel segment, I was VERY glad I saw it, as it was the most interesting and endearing I ever saw the character. Doinel appeared in several other Truffaut full-length films and this small segment was the final one I needed to see to complete them. It was lighter in tone and "cute" compared to the other incarnations--much lighter than 400 blows or the other films that have a more wistful edge to them. You see a hopeful Doinel just reaching adulthood--a decent guy--just REALLY awkward with the ladies.