Anne And Muriel

The extras provide a fascinating backdrop to Anne and Muriel. They are detailed, revealing and completely without pretension.

Toubiana sets the scene for the film and places it firmly in the context of its original release. While you might have expected any film by icon Truffaut to go down a storm, it actually received a rather lukewarm reaction in France to begin with, apparently because French cinema-goers had decided they wanted their passion to be rather more graphic and raw than elegant and stylish.

Gruault is excellent on what it was like working for Truffaut. Anne and Muriel, like Jules et Jim, was based on works by Henri-Pierre Roche, a bit of un garçon by all accounts.

Gruault had the job of preparing the shooting script, culled from Roche's 500-page diary in just two weeks. His account of his working relationship with Truffaut is fascinating, as is his scene-by-scene analysis of the film.

We learn that the beautiful Welsh rural scenes were actually filmed in Normandy, simply because Truffaut disliked filming outside France. We also find that a waterfall scene, in which three brooks provide a metaphor for the growing love triangle by merging into one, was actually originally intended for Jules et Jim.

Gripping stuff and well worth the inspection.

The original trailer, which has an oddly soapy feel to begin with, is a charming taster for what is to follow.