Summary
In the near future, all books are prohibited, and squads of firemen are employed in hunting
down and destroying them. One such fireman is Montag, who enjoys his work and has
a house and wife. Then he meets Clarisse, a young woman who seems to despise Montag’s
work. In secret, Montag acquires books and starts to read, knowing that by doing
so he risks losing everything...
Review
Farenheit 451 is a fairly faithful adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s novel of the same
name, and conveys the same message about the value of the written word with as much
force and conviction. Unfortunately, the film is very badly let down by some pretty
major technical and casting problems.
This is the first of Truffaut’s two grand forays into science fiction (the second being
a starring role in Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977), a milieu
which Truffaut tackles with only partial success. As a result, this is probably
Truffaut’s least successful film, and its failure is due most probably to the language
barrier: Truffaut’s inability to master English is well-documented.
Although it was probably his greatest mistake, Farenheit 451 was a project that
stuck with Truffaut for many years. The film took four years to realise, involved
many re-writes, changes of sponsor, and some serious casting problems. The part
of Montag was originally lined up for Paul Newman when Truffaut was looking for an American
backer, then it went to Terence Stamp when it was finally agreed to make the film in England.
Stamp pulled out in a fit of pique when he learnt that Julie Christie was being offered
two major parts in the film (Montag’s wife and his mistress), leading Truffaut to recast
Oskar Werner as Montag. Despite his success in Truffaut’s earlier film, Jules
et Jim, Werner seems totally mis-cast in this film, lacking screen presence, having
poor diction, and seemingly having little rapport with his co-star, Julie Christie.
Truffaut must have realised his mistake during the making of the film, because he had
great difficulties with Werner during production, leading to many bitter disputes.
In spite of all that the film does, remarkably, stand up quite well. The story is
a powerful one with some beautiful and moving imagery. The scene with the middle-aged
woman setting fire to herself amidst a pile of books is evocative of the burning of Joan
of Arc and leaves a lasting impression. Likewise the final scenes where Montag meets
the book-people has a profound impact and makes one forget (but only just) the awful special
effects involving flying firemen (on wires) which just precedes it.
Despite some unfortunate production problems, Farenheit 451 is still an entertaining
and moving film. There are some deliciously funny moments, although the humour does
slightly undermine the menace of the jack-booted firemen.
The execution of Farenheit 451 is far from perfect, but the intention is well meant
and the central premise of the story is one that will strike a chord with any bibliophile.
© James Travers 2001
See also:
The life of François Truffaut
Les 400 coups
Tirez sur le pianiste
Jules et Jim
Baisers volés
Le Dernier métro
Buy films by François Truffaut
More about the French New Wave
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