''Les Mistons'' (''The Mischief Makers'') is a short film directed by François Truffaut in 1957. It was his second film after '' Une Visite'' in 1955 but it is considered his "first short film of any real consequence". Truffaut simply called it "my first real film". Moreover, it was Bernadette Lafont's film debut. She was at that time

Gérard Blain Gérard Blain (23 October 1930 – 17 December 2000) was a French actor and film director. Biography Blain appeared in sixty films between 1944 and 2000. He also directed nine films between 1971 and 2000. In 1971, he won the Golden Leopard ...

's wife. The film demonstrates already some examples for Truffaut's "trademark tracking shots" and would "help define his style" as well as "set Truffaut on a path for his career". Truffaut's narrative stresses the details of life, hereby establishing one of the traits of the French New Wave. Thus he also became a predecessor of French film directors such as Jean-Pierre Jeunet (''

Amélie ''Amélie'' (also known as ''Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain''; ; en, The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain, italic=yes) is a 2001 French-language romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Written by Jeunet with Guillaume La ...

''). It has been stated that the formation of the French New Wave could be "tracked through two short films": Jean-Luc Godard's '' All the Boys Are Called Patrick'' and Truffaut's ''Les Mistons''. In 2013 the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

screened this film together with Truffaut's ''

The 400 Blows ''The 400 Blows'' (french: Les Quatre Cents Coups) is a 1959 French coming-of-age drama film, and the directorial debut of François Truffaut. The film, shot in DyaliScope, stars Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, and Claire Maurier. One of ...

''.

Plot

The story takes place in Provencal France, where a group of young boys ("mistons" roughly translates "brats") are infatuated with a beautiful young woman. Jealous of her passionate affair, they conspire to make mischief for the woman and her boyfriend.

Production

The film was shot on location in Bernadette Lafont's hometown Nîmes in Southern France. It sports the town's Roman arena. It was shot on

35mm film 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...

without live sound.

DVD release

In 1999 the film was released on a DVD which also contained ''

Antoine and Colette ''Antoine and Colette'' (french: Antoine et Colette) is a 1962 French short film written and directed by François Truffaut. It is the second installment in Truffaut's five-film series about Antoine Doinel, the character he follows from boyhood ...

''. In 2007 ''Les Mistons'' was again released, this time as a part of a DVD collection. The extras included an introduction by film historian Serge Toubiana and an audio commentary by Truffaut's assistant,

Claude de Givray Claude de Givray (born 7 April 1933) is a French film director and screenwriter. In 1960 he was co-director with François Truffaut for '' Tire-au flanc''. He directed the 1965 film '' Un mari à un prix fixe'', which starred Anna Karina. He w ...

References

External links

* * * * https://archive.org/details/les-mistons-1957 Complete movie at

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mistons 1957 films 1957 short films French black-and-white films Films directed by François Truffaut 1950s French-language films Films with screenplays by François Truffaut French comedy short films