The 400 Blows (1959) and Jules et Jim (1962) established François Truffaut as an outstanding and original director. The Soft Skin (La peau douce) (1964) was not in the same league. Although it displays many of his story-telling skills, not least a gift for suspense, the film feels dated, the characters are not quite as interesting as in his earlier hits, and the plot – a middle-aged married man has an affair with an air hostess, and his worn marriage falls apart - is a little formulaic.
Francois Truffaut's "The Soft Skin" is being revived at the very moment when it seems uncannily prophetic. It tells the story of a wealthy and famous French man, Pierre Lachenay, who has an affair with an airline hostess and foolishly thinks he can keep it a secret from his wife. The difference between Pierre Lachenay and Dominique Strauss-Kahn is that Pierre is timid and guilty, although he would have saved himself a great deal of grief by being even more timid. Also, of course, DSK is accused of rape, not cheating.
In 1946, in the very first year of the famous Cannes Film Festival, the award for best short film went to the animated children’s short Animals and Bandits (Zvířátka a Petrovští). The film was the first international success not only for its creator, Jiří Trnka, but also for the newly founded studio Bratři v triku which had produced it. The golden age of Czech animated films had begun. In the years to come Czech animated films would influence generations of viewers the world over.
Painter, illustrator, puppet-maker, sculptor, and scenographer Jiří Trnka was one of the founders of Czech animation. The communist regime nurtured animated films because they brought prestige at festivals and significant revenues from the West. The Bratři v triku studio, part of the Krátký film state company, alone produced hundreds of films, including the very popular Večerníček bedtime stories.