Shoot the Pianist

Tirez sur le pianiste

Truffaut’s highly influential blend of pastiche gangster movie and romantic reverie was a landmark New Wave movie.

Photograph: Robert Lachenay

  • Director

    François Truffaut

  • With

    Charles Aznavour, Marie Dubois, Nicole Berger, Albert Rémy

  • France 1960. 80min

  • Digital

  • Certificate

    12A

  • English subtitles

Based on David Goodis’ novel Down There, Truffaut’s second feature is a breezy New Wave concoction of genre pastiche, playful stylistic tricks and romantic reverie. Aznavour is charismatic as the nightclub pianist concealing a secret past who’s tempted to abandon his solitary ways when he falls for a colleague. Sadly, however, his brothers have angered local mobsters... A strain of melancholy pervades the constant narrative invention.

Also available on BFI Player.