If it wasn't for the very last scene, I would have rated The soft skin very poorly. The last scene is redeeming, but it doesn't save the film from being yet another French new wave film that makes you despise humankind (that's so deep). Truffaut's movie might not have been as sexist as it initially appeared to be, but it does revolve a lot around the tired old schema of "war of the sexes" (trading in stereotypes & dichotomies). What I intend to say is just that Truffaut's film is a bloody mess when it comes to how he deals with gender.
You know what I think about Nouvelle Vague? I think it is overrated. I might change my mind someday, but right now - I am so fed up with sexist & self-indulgent movies directed by auteurs admired for their technical skills but mostly for their existential depth. (I managed to watch 20 minutes of Jules et Jim.)
Truffaut has some interesting things going on here. The treatment of sound is excellent - how some random sound (the rumbling of an aeroplane, for example) suddenly dominates the viewing experience and interrupts the story. The fascination with "modernity" works well, too. What about the genre-hopping? That works to some extent, too.
The story is nothing to write home about. Truffaut studies the psychology of adultery and a seedy affair that goes nowhere because the man, a succesful academic, is too reserved to be dragged along into a love affair and because the woman, a young stewardess, seems not to be attracted to this guy anyway. Poor Pierre.
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