Truffaut Grows Up With Simple, Pleasurable ‘Kisses’

An exasperated character in “Stolen Kisses” says this about the exasperating hero, Antoine Doinel: “You’re certainly full of goodwill, but . . . but . . . discouraging.”

That’s our boy. Doinel, Francois Truffaut’s most famous creation, is well-intentioned but a bit off, a minor-league misfit who often seems to be sleepwalking through his own life. He has charm, though, and you can’t help but like him.

Antoine has long been recognized as Truffaut’s alter-ego, the boy, the adolescent and finally the man at the center of the French filmmaker’s quintet of autobiographical movies beginning with “The 400 Blows” in 1959. In that somber picture, Truffaut sketched his own youth, from the Paris streets to a reformatory to a memorable last scene on a deserted beach where Antoine faces an uncertain future.

Up next, in 1962, came “Love at Twenty,” which gave us Antoine’s first clumsy adventures in love and sex. “Stolen Kisses” (screening Friday night as the latest installment in UC Irvine’s “Love the Whole World Round” series) brings a tad of maturity, but not much, as he learns more of romance, sensuality and finding a niche in an adult world.

The 1968 film, like “Bed and Board” and “Love on the Run,” which followed “Stolen Kisses,” leaves the grimness of “The 400 Blows” far behind. Truffaut, growing up himself as a director and writer, doesn’t take things quite as seriously; “Stolen Kisses” may not be the weighty classic that “The 400 Blows” is, but it is a simpler, more directly pleasurable experience.

As usual, the story begins with Antoine (played by Jean-Pierre Leaudin all the films) firmly in the middle of Truffaut’s camera frame. This time, he’s blithely accepting a dishonorable discharge from the army. Once out on the streets, Antoine literally trots to a local brothel, then to the home of his obsession, Christine (Claude Jade).

She’s friendly but aloof, and Antoine settles into a mundane sort of longing for her. He tries to seem indifferent during their many meetings, but his self-conscious intensity gives him away. Christine is a happy, unobserving girl, though, and they drift through a kind of lovers’ fog together as if they’re waiting for something to happen to them.

Many things, mostly hilarious, happen to Antoine. When not dwelling on Christine, he bumbles through jobs, first as a night clerk and later as kind of an apprentice private eye. He’s a very bad detective--nothing Antoine seems to do is unobtrusive--but is assigned an unusual case nonetheless. A shoe store owner, Monsieur Tabard (Michel Lonsdale), wants to know why nobody likes him, and Antoine poses as a clerk in Tabard’s shop to unravel the mystery.

Antoine learns nothing except that he’s infatuated with Tabard’s wife, Fabienne (Delphine Seyrig), a beautiful older woman. A remarkable scene, which shifts the picture’s breezy comic tone to something more lyrical, finds Fabienne seducing Antoine in his crummy apartment for one afternoon of love-making. It’s a fanciful--but quietly erotic--passage.

His curiosity satisfied, Antoine’s fascination returns to Christine, and “Stolen Kisses” plays out its colorful, winning hand. Later, in “Bed and Board” (1970), we see Antoine fitfully trying to manage being married, and in “Love on the Run” (1979), he faces the disappointment of divorce. As always, Antoine is irrepressible, the guy-next-door wearing the uneasy grin of a born survivor.

What: Francois Truffaut’s “Stolen Kisses.”

When: Friday, May 21, at 7 and 9 p.m.

Where: The UC Irvine Student Center, Crystal Cove Auditorium.

Whereabouts: Take the San Diego (405) Freeway to Jamboree Road and head south to Campus Drive. Turn left on Campus to Bridge Road. Take Bridge into the campus.

Wherewithal: $2 and $4.

Where to call: (714) 856-6379.

SPECIAL SCREENINGS My Niagara

(NR) Director Helen Lee’s 1992 exploration of Asian romance will be the first offering of the Asian/Pacific American Film and Video Festival. It will be shown Saturday, May 22, at 4 p.m. in 262 Humanities Hall, UC Irvine, Campus Drive and Bridge Road, Irvine. Other films screening Saturday include “Forbidden City” (1989) and “Monterey’s Boat People” (1982). At 8 p.m., “Sa-I-Gu: From Korean Women’s Perspectives” (1992) will begin, followed by “Mixed Blood” (1992) and “Homes Apart: Two Koreas Divided” (1991). Additional films screen May 29. (714) 856-4978. FREE

Law of Desire

(NR) Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s 1987 surrealistic romantic comedy starring Antonio Banderas as a man obsessed with his male lover will be shown May 28 at 7 and 9 p.m. in the Crystal Cove Auditorium at UC Irvine, Campus Drive and Bridge Road, Irvine, as part of the UCI Film Society’s Spring series “Love the Whole World Round.” $4. (714) 856-6379.

History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige

(NR) The 1991 short film by Rea Tajiri launches the second half of the Asian/Pacific American Film and Video Festival on May 29. It will be followed by “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” (1988). At 8 p.m., “Sin City Diary” (1992) will be shown, followed by “Fighting Chance: Gay Asian Men and HIV” (1990) and “Khush Refugees” (1991). They will screen in 178 Humanities Hall, UC Irvine, Campus Drive and Bridge Road, Irvine. (714) 856-4978. FREE