Francois Truffaut Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Francois Truffaut - Essay Example â€Å"Tradition of Quality† is the inclination of certain French scriptwriters and directors to mainly depend on literary adaptations to come up with their celluloid works. Although, the term was coined by Jean-Pierre Barrot in LÉcran franà §ais to refer to the inclination of directors like Claude Autant-Lara, Jean Delannoy and Yves Allà ©gret for literary adaptations, and the work of scriptwriters such as Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost, it was Truffaut who denounced it and opposed it in his journalistic works. (Gonzà ¡lez 2003). Truffaut points out what constitutes â€Å"Tradition of Quality† and why films based on it are only regarded as France’s mainstream cinema. That is, with majority of the prominent French filmmakers and scriptwriters opting for literary adaptations for their films, as part of the â€Å"Tradition of Quality†, and importantly winning accolades including international appreciation for those works, it naturally came to be regarde d as the mainstream French cinema. However Truffaut is totally against this stereotyping of â€Å"Tradition of Quality† as the French cinema and also criticises the creators for forcefully stereotyping it both in the domestic as well as in the international arena. â€Å"†¦they force, by their ambitiousness, the admiration of the foreign press, defend the French flag twice a year at Cannes and at Venice where, since 1946, they regularly carry off medals, golden lions and grands prix† (Truffaut 1954, p. 9). The other key component which constitutes â€Å"Tradition of Quality† and which is also a ‘loose end’ of this concept is the instances of â€Å"equivalence betrayals† during literary adaptations. As part of â€Å"Tradition of Quality† scriptwriters in association with directors will change certain scenes featured in the novels and come up with equivalent scenes in the film’s