Mark Hooper 

Quiz: how well do you know the life and work of François Truffaut?

Think you know your Nouvelle Vague? Reveal your inner auteur by separating the François Truffaut facts from fiction…
  
  


  1. Truffaut was arrested and imprisoned in 1951 for…

    1. Attempting to desert from the army

    2. Attempting to steal from a Tabac

    3. Attempting to drive home while drunk

    4. Attempting to pass off a forgery as a genuine Picasso

  2. Truffaut was inspired to make his feature film debut, Les Quatre Cent Coups, after seeing which 1958 film…

    1. Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo

    2. Kurt Neumann’s The Fly

    3. Stanley Kramer’s The Defiant Ones

    4. Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil

  3. Who did he describe as “the most important film director alive”?

    1. Werner Herzog

    2. Alfred Hitchcock

    3. Jean-Luc Godard

    4. Jean Renoir

  4. What film won him his only Academy Award?

    1. Baisers Volés

    2. La Nuit Américaine

    3. L’Histoire d’Adèle H

    4. Jules et Jim

  5. Which 1977 English-language film did he appear in?

    1. That Obscure Object of Desire

    2. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

    3. Cross of Iron

    4. Annie Hall

  6. Why did he once throw a hitchhiker out of his car?

    1. For admitting he didn’t like films

    2. For admitting he fancied Truffaut’s muse and one-time fiancée, Claude Jade

    3. For admitting he’d named his two children Jules and Jim

    4. For admitting he’d lied about his destination to spend more time chatting with the director

  7. In which of these films do the actors Jean-Pierre Léaud and Claude Jade NOT appear as the couple Antoine and Christine?

    1. Baisers Volés

    2. Domicile Conjugal

    3. Les Quatre Cent Coups

    4. L’amour en Fuite

  8. What nickname did Traffaut earn during his early career as a film critic?

    1. The Backseat Director

    2. The Auteur Who Never Was

    3. The Hatchet Job

    4. The Gravedigger of French Cinema

  9. Which of the following Arthur Penn films did Truffaut turn down the opportunity to direct?

    1. Night Moves

    2. Bonnie and Clyde

    3. The Miracle Worker

    4. The Chase

  10. What did Steven Spielberg claim Truffaut spent most of his time on set doing when the two worked together?

    1. Quizzing the crew on film trivia

    2. Rewriting someone else’s script

    3. Spying on the extras through binoculars

    4. Singing to himself

Solutions

1:A, 2:D, 3:A, 4:B, 5:B, 6:A, 7:C, 8:D, 9:B, 10:C

Scores

  1. 0 and above.

    Too busy pining after The Woman Next Door or looking for Love on the Run? Hire both of these films and try again.

  2. 5 and above.

    Hmmm, give it another go. 400 goes, if you need to (take an extra point if you get that pun).

  3. 10 and above.

    Well, Shoot the Piano Player! You know your Truffaut.

 

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