Love on the Run

By now, we know that "Antoine Doinel" (Jean-Pierre Léaud) is a bit of a scoundrel and the first few scenes here illustrate that to a T! The ink is barely dry on his divorce from "Christine" (Claude Jade), when he is leaving new gal "Sabine" (Dorothée) to meet up with their son "Alphonse". This behaviour rather epitomises the problem for "Sabine" who yearns for just a little more commitment from her flaky boyfriend. He, on the other hand, is continuing to juggle the plates to nobody's particular satisfaction and that's depicted in this entertainingly stitched together drama using a series of flashbacks and contemporaneous storylines that only become more complex when he runs into his original infatuation "Colette" (Marie-France Pisier) - and him without a train ticket, too! For "Antoine" it's all a maelstrom of emotions that surround and immerse him, frequently leaving him flailing, but who might make him happy? Whom might he actually make happy if he stops being selfish long enough? Could he ever be that selfless? There's a fine chemistry here between Léaud and both Pisier and Dorothée as the comedy veers perilously close to slapstick at times, but it does stay just the on right side as his character raises laughs of both empathy and shame as his escapades see his life unravel before us. Truffaut keeps it moving along quickly and there's some observational wit amidst a script that quite poignantly sums up a man I reckon it'd be better not to know - especially if you're a woman.

Godawful opening and closing credits song apart, this final entry into the Antoine Doinel Saga is an enjoyable experience. Fairly briskly paced during the first twenty minutes or so, the film later sinks into a series of unnecessarily lengthy flashbacks, filmed in various aspect ratios. Jean-Pierre Leaud is his usual charming self and the main reason to watch 'Love on the Run'. One only wishes Truffaut hadn't cannibalized his earlier works to beef up the film's running time.