Fahrenheit 451

Multiple Viewings
Francois Truffaut
1966

Who better to commit Ray Bradbury's book burnin' dystopia to the screen than lifelong bibliophile Francious Truffaut? The shitty dead-end society of pacified drones that hero Montag becomes increasingly dissatisfied with is excellently illustrated in a "not too distant future" idiom - no rocket cars or robots here, but there are giant televisions, interesting architecture, and jetpacks. Oskar Werner's face subtly and effectively conveys his disillusionment with an inward melancholy, though its Julie Christie who steals the show in the dual role of Montag's living-corpse wife and seductive rebel bookworm. Truffaut liberally indulges in the cinematic allure of fire, meditating on engulfed libraries in closeup, and delights in presenting the ironically manipulative programming Montag's vapid wife views on the idiot box. There's plenty of memorable scenes straight from the book - Montag discovering his OD'd wife cold and blue only to have plumber-like EMT's resurrect her, and my personal favorite, the badass old woman going up in flames alongside her vast library. There's no mistaking the 60's counterculture vibe given off by the forrest-dwelling "book people" either, a timely touch that must have jived great with radical chick Christie. Seeing as how Truffaut was never able to learn English (though not for lack of trying), I'm curious as to how the direction of this English language picture went down on set. I also wonder if the director didn't have at least a twinge of guilt in burning what appears to be actual books, and not blank-paged film props. It's been over 5 years since I've last seen this one and was pleased to find it even better than I remembered.