A Reflection on the Images of Death in the Films of Truffaut

Abstract

The deaths that are depicted in the films of François Truffaut have come to be discussed often in association with motionless images, such as photographs or portraits. However, images of death seen in his works can be linked not only to static imagery, but also to images that have a certain type of movement. This paper reflects on the images of death in Truffaut’s films, focusing on the existence of cases where kinetic imagery drives a character further towards death.

Firstly, I’ll look at both examples where the motionlessness of photographs is linked to the motionlessness of death in cases where photography leads to a character’s death. I will also look at multiplexed framing through the cutting of photographs of which serves as a way of giving photographs an even more forbidding quality.

Then, I will analyze examples where motifs other than photographs are connected with death. Specifically, I will substantiate the relationship between mirrors as secondary frames and characters becoming pseudo-sculptures, with “image duplication” as a keyword.

Lastly, using the movement of falling from a state of weightlessness as a key, I will present a new angle of the character death that is led on by moving images.