There Was Legitimate Culture in Postwar Europe?

After the fall of fascism, Europe was left open to a new way of life. The tragedy of the Holocaust left many individuals and governments in shock, and measures were taken that ensured the prevention of further extremist activity in government. The sudden lack of censorship in allowed both revolutionaries and artists to speak out in new (or perhaps forgotten) ways. In France, this renewed freedom of expression enabled the production of avant-garde film and philosophy. As the existentialists wrote in Montmatre, filmmakers set about depicting the modern world. The most famous French filmmakers of the era were Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut--the former, an absurdist; the latter, and existentialist romantic.



The Soft Skin (1964) was Truffaut's first dark film. His previous works operated on a certain joie de vivre which French audiences found refreshing. However, in the story of a writer who leaves his wife for an airline stewardess, Truffaut captured the unsettling reality of "modern romance." The reality of two women and a man in a postwar world struck viewers too close to home, and despite the film's acceptance to Cannes Film Festival, it flopped at the box office. Critics today assert that Truffaut's darkest film is one of his best efforts, accurately depicting the personal conflicts of postwar Europe.