It's too late to be late again
Everyone knows about a loveless marriage, formal
marriage, marriage by habit or some other marriage, saved by some facts or
obligations. Such marriages can last for many years, but one day this house of
cards could collapse.
The house of cards could collapse because of love. The
destruction of such marriage is depicted by Francois Truffaut in The Soft Skin.
At first glance, the film have the simplest storyline. Pierre Lachenay, a
well-known writer and editor of a literary magazine, lives the, at first sight,
happiest life. He lives with a little daughter Sabina and wife Franca.
Everything goes on as usual, until Pierre, after meeting a beautiful air
hostess Nicole, is «being hit with the thunderbolt»…
In such situations, a lot of so-called «goody-good
people» are trying to follow the norms of society. They are hiding the loved
ones, arranging «the love nests», humiliating themselves with friends and
relatives. The director depicts all inner shame of Pierre, his attempts to «sit
on two chairs», but love breaks his adherence to the societal hypocrisies.
The Film was not made for purpose of advancing the
cheap morals or standard hypocrisies; it depicts the evil of lies. The Director
says that the real love cannot be mixed with hypocrisy and lies. The loved ones
cannot be hided or treated as a toy. Francois Truffaut says to The Spectator –
don’t lie, don’t postpone the truth, even the harshest, or you will risk to
lose everything.
The Soft Skin is a film which should be viewed by
everyone. Despite the fact, that the film is more than 50 years old, it hasn’t
lost any truthfulness.
