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4 Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost

Writing the ‘tradition of quality’
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Abstract

Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost are best known as the foremost screenwriters of the French ‘tradition of quality’ lambasted by François Truffaut who bemoaned the ‘psychological realism’ of their films which he claimed had little to do with post-war France. This chapter looks again at the screenwriting of Aurenche and Bost and argues that the peculiarities and context of the so-called tradition of quality have been critically and academically neglected largely due to the auteurist orthodoxy established by New Wave critics. Aurenche and Bost collaborated on thirty feature films working with directors such as Yves Allégret, Jean Delannoy, René Clément and, most frequently, Claude Autant-Lara. Many of these films have been critically dismissed as emblematic of post-war stagnation and ‘academicism’. Focusing on their collaborations with Autant-Lara, this chapter draws on archival research that highlights the collective, contingent nature of their screenwriting, adaptation and filmmaking practices and reveals how these influential films were in fact firmly rooted in their times.

Abstract

Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost are best known as the foremost screenwriters of the French ‘tradition of quality’ lambasted by François Truffaut who bemoaned the ‘psychological realism’ of their films which he claimed had little to do with post-war France. This chapter looks again at the screenwriting of Aurenche and Bost and argues that the peculiarities and context of the so-called tradition of quality have been critically and academically neglected largely due to the auteurist orthodoxy established by New Wave critics. Aurenche and Bost collaborated on thirty feature films working with directors such as Yves Allégret, Jean Delannoy, René Clément and, most frequently, Claude Autant-Lara. Many of these films have been critically dismissed as emblematic of post-war stagnation and ‘academicism’. Focusing on their collaborations with Autant-Lara, this chapter draws on archival research that highlights the collective, contingent nature of their screenwriting, adaptation and filmmaking practices and reveals how these influential films were in fact firmly rooted in their times.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Dedication v
  3. Contents vii
  4. List of figures viii
  5. List of tables x
  6. Preface xi
  7. Acknowledgements xiii
  8. List of abbreviations xv
  9. Introduction 1
  10. 1 Charles Spaak 28
  11. 2 Jacques Prévert 62
  12. 3 Henri Jeanson 94
  13. 4 Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost 124
  14. 5 The screenwriter sacrificed? 156
  15. 6 Le cinéma du samedi soir 193
  16. 7 Screenwriting trends in popular comedy 227
  17. 8 Dialogue writing in multicultural France since 2000 263
  18. 9 Réalisa(c)trices screenwriting the self 296
  19. Conclusion 328
  20. References 333
  21. Index 360
Screenwriters in French cinema
This chapter is in the book Screenwriters in French cinema
https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526133182.00013

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Dedication v
  3. Contents vii
  4. List of figures viii
  5. List of tables x
  6. Preface xi
  7. Acknowledgements xiii
  8. List of abbreviations xv
  9. Introduction 1
  10. 1 Charles Spaak 28
  11. 2 Jacques Prévert 62
  12. 3 Henri Jeanson 94
  13. 4 Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost 124
  14. 5 The screenwriter sacrificed? 156
  15. 6 Le cinéma du samedi soir 193
  16. 7 Screenwriting trends in popular comedy 227
  17. 8 Dialogue writing in multicultural France since 2000 263
  18. 9 Réalisa(c)trices screenwriting the self 296
  19. Conclusion 328
  20. References 333
  21. Index 360
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