THE 400 BLOWS
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
Here’s a rare, exciting mini-marathon for cinemaphiles and Francophiles alike. Film critic turned filmmaker Francois Truffaut made his initial reputation with this 1959 movie, an unblinking, only occasional sentimental look at French street kid Antoine Doinel, played by young, dynamic Jean-Pierre Leaud. And Truffaut returned to the story of Antoine Doinel several times, and all those Truffaut-Leaud collaborations are presented tonight, in order, by TCM. First, at 9:45 p.m. ET, comes the 1962 short Antoine and Colette, co-starring the gorgeous Marie-France Pisier as Colette. Then, at 10:30 p.m. ET, comes 1969’s Stolen Kisses, made a full decade after The 400 Blows, with Antoine now an army veteran flirting with an older woman (Delphine Seyrig). 1970’s Bed and Board, at 12:15 a.m. ET, continues the exploits of Antoine, as does 1979’s Love on the Run (at 2 a.m. ET), made 20 years after the first Truffaut-Leaud teaming – and co-starring, once again, Marie-France Pisier.