perm filename P[SAB,LCS] blob sn#352585 filedate 1978-05-02 generic text, type T, neo UTF8




		                                   Stefanie Allyn Bayley










	Francois Truffaut's second film,  Shoot The Piano  Player, was a  direct
extension of his written  criticism while working at  Cahiers du Cinema.  As  he
emerged as  a director,  his ideas  crystalized into  technique.  Though  he  no
longer so finely distinguished between "good" and "bad" films, his emphasis  was
on the more subtle graduations of the two.  He saw films as good when they mixed
genres and emotions,  creating characters  filled with  conflicting impulses  of
good and evil, action and non-action.  This film intertwines and counter- points
slapstick and gangster film,  romance and melodrama.   The central oharacter  is
the embodiment of these contradictions in his duality as Charlie/ Edouard.   His
actions have had him withdrawing from life, only to be drawn back into it,  back
and forth.   These  movements between  involvement  and exile  are  produced  by
unforseen, uncontrollable circumstances; they just seem to happen. 
	Truffaut  is  destroying   our  concepts   of  right   and  wrong   with
inconguities. As we view the film, outside reality disappears and we must accept
givens.  He has said, "It's not necessary to look for reality in Piano Player  -
neither in the Armenian family in the snow near Grenoble, nor in the bar in  the
Levallois-Perret..."  Yet we can take a detailed look at one scene and find  the
elements of Truffaut's  theory of  mixibility  and the  effects  it has  on  his
characters, the  reality  it creates  for  them.  The  resistance  and  ultimate
inclusion  of   Charlie   once  again   fuses   his  behavior   patterns.    The
inconsistancies in environment distort our reactions, yet have an impact on  the
characters that we can interpret.
	In the following analysis  we will see examples  of classic "film  noir"
technique in Truffaut's  camera direction.  The  withholding of an  establishing
long  shot  of  the  farmhouse  at   the  beginning  of  the  scene  creates   a
disorientation we continually try to rectify.  Compression of the frame by areas
of darkness, the  cutting off  of people's bodies,  high angled  shots, and  the
prominence of objects in the foreground all find place and use in this work.






	The farmhouse scene in Truffaut's  second film, Shoot The Piano  Player,
is the only scene where we see all the Saroyan brothers together.  One, Edouard,
has left his life as concert pianist to become Charlie Kohler, honky tonk  piano
player in a bar-cafe.  He has killed the bar owner with a knife in a quarrel and
has come to the family's farmhouse to join his brothers in hiding.  Richard  and
Chico are already there, hiding out  from two robbers, after stealing the  money
for themselves.  Chico had gone to Paris  earlier to enlist the aid of  Charlie,
but he had refused.  Richard meets Charlie  some distance from the house and  we
do not see it  before the first  interior shot.  The first  farmhouse shot is  a
medium close-up of Charlie and Richard sitting at a table, Charlie on the  left,
Richard on the right.  Their right and left, respectively, shoulders extend  out
of the frame creating a  center space of approximately  one third of the  frame.
Charlie is still wearing his light colored trenchcoat, is slightly hunched  over
the table, with his hands below the table,  and is staring off to the right  and
down.  Richard is talking to and  looking at Charlie.  His forearms are  crossed
and propped on the table, his hands vivid against his bulky black sweater.   The
center space of the frame is filled with plain painted panelling.  At the top of
the frame a bouncing  pendulum indicates the presence  of a clock.  Richard  and
the table overlap Charlie's figure, superimposing one brother over another.   We
have been told in previous narration that this is the family home and also  that
the older parents have been sent into the village for the "duration".  Yet  this
first shot shows no "hominess" that we can identify from Charlie's attitude.  He
is withdrawn, inanimate, unresponsive to either his brother or his  environment.
He is dressed formally - a crisp coat, white shirt, tie - looking much like  his
abandonned Eduoard image.   The table  top is  empty and  bare, as  is the  wall
behind it.  His brother's posture  is casual, accustomed, and most  importantly,
we see it as dominant.  Charlie seems  to be, at most, a guest.  Charlie's  only
response to  his  brother  is when  Richard  speaks  to him  from  his  personal
viewpoint.  Up  until now  Richard has  been talking  of Charlie's  experiences.
Charlie responds to Richard's use of "I".   Richard says that he is glad to  see
him again [not "...glad you're back," as subtitled].  At this, Charlie replies ,
"me too," and becomes temporarily animated.  Charlie glances several times  over
his right shoulder, away from Richard, distracted, not seeming to be  listening,
yet more award than in his staring  state.  Charlie changes the subject to  that
of the boiling  coffee.  Richard gets  up, walks behind  Charlie, as the  camera
dollies right and out, along  the side of the  table, revealing that Charlie  is
sitting at one short end of it, again giving the impression of a guest.  We  now
have a  wider  angled  medium shot.   We  see  Richard as  functioning  in  this
environment.  He  is  fiddling with  coffee,  stove, wood  poker,  etc.   behind
Charlie, at a right angle to the camera.  In this wider shot more of the surface
of the table is revealed in the  foreground, showing us that Charlie's gaze  may
well have been fixed into the  immediacy of the farmhouse afterall, for  jutting
out of the table is a large knife_  we now see his staring eyes' target.   Also,
we see a bowl of eggs  and a lit lantern lined  up on the surface, leading  away
from Charlie.  At  the same  time, Richard is  speaking of  going "stir  crazy,"
holed up in the house.  Whereas Charlie fixes onto the knife as a replay of  the
knife jutting out of his victim, in the  context of the farmhouse it is both  an
implement for eating and for  toying with to while  away time.  With this  wider
shot we also  see more of  the walls  of the interior.   A background  woodpile,
stovepipe,  shelves  with  bottles,  and  the  whole  wall  clock,  surprisingly
delicate, reflecting polished  metal.  Finally,  we expect  to see  some of  the
intimate articles of the brothers' parents'  home.  What we see is that  strange
combination of utilitarian and  absurd things that we  would more likely  expect
from any hide-out.  The setting still looks stark, barely functional, except for
the small clock. 
	A cut to a close-up  of Charlie with the camera angled down.   Richard's
voice talks of not wanting to get up  in the morning, of being a prisoner.   The
image of Charlie  is locked into  the frame, pinned  at the shoulders.   Charlie
only blinks, his  face frozen,  drawn, pale, expressionless.   Richard is  still
fiddling behind  his  head.  We  see  that  Charlie is  perhaps  listening  now,
reflecting on  his life  as  "Charlie Kohler,"  the  imprisonment he,  too,  has
imposed on himself.
	Cut back to shot 1.  Richard speaks of  playing and  joking with  Chico,
that they had found it at first fun.  Perhaps Charlie is remembering the quarrel
with the  bar owner_  the  "play" that  he  had wanted  to  stop once  they  had
tusselled outside of the bar, away from the women's view, after he thought  they
had both made their  points.  Richard pounds  the ceiling with  an ax, calls  to
Chico.  The camera pans back to the right to Chico descending the stairs  behind
the panelling, emerging  through the door.   Chico is also  wearing casual  warm
"country" clothing - a paid woolen shirt over a plain one.  Richard is bent over
the stove in the background with his back to Chico.  Chico acknowledges  Charlie
first; it is then that Charlie breaks  away again from his locked gaze.   Chico,
thus, seems to be the central,  dominant figure, able to command attention,  and
much more readily than  did Richard.  Continuing this,  the camera continues  to
pan to place only  Chico in the frame  in a medium shot  with still more of  the
table revealed: a pile  of cut bread, reaffirming  the farmhouse context of  the
knife, as  opposed to  Charlie's context.   As we  lose view  of the  knife  and
Charlie's focus, before the  end of the pan,  for the first time  we see well  a
gleaming gun  in  Chico's hand.   This,  then, also  defines  the knife  in  its
farmhouse context, as  Chico thinks the  gun is more  important.  Chico is  also
carrying a small briefcase.  Charlie asks, "What is that?"  Chico answers,  "The
loot."  But Charlie may be asking about the gun.  Richard enters from the  left,
looking at Chico.  The camera pans back  to the left and Chico and Richard  both
turn and look at Charlie as Chico explains that "the loot" is the reason he went
to Paris.  This is a very powerful  statement as it demonstrates that Chico  has
begun to formulate his own version of his actions pertaining to the robbery, The
scenes in  Paris of  Chico and  Charlie give  no indication  that that  was  his
purpose in being  there, rather, that  he had sought  Charlie's help, as  usual.
Now, in the farmhouse, Chico is,  it seems, concocting, but with Charlie's  lack
of response,  he  goes  unchecked,  uncorrected, thus  putting  himself  into  a
different power position in relation to  his brothers.  The two brother  looking
at Charlie also  seem to be  accusing, challenging; they  are both standing  and
Charlie is still hunched over the table.   Chico had just told what seens to  us
to be a fabrication.  Charlie  is still locked into  his lie of being  "Charlie"
and thus cannot question Chico's lie.  We see that Charlie's eyes have now found
the gun.  Chico's power is reaffirmed as the camera dollies along the table, and
then pans and dollies to  face Chico sitting there.  As  Chico starts to sit  at
the table, the combination dolly and pan of the camera effects the disappearance
of Charlie, so that the fully seated Chico is the only figure in the frame.   He
is also at  a more  perpendicular angle  to the camera  than the  past views  of
Charlie - a much more commanding stance,  even when sitting.  We must face  him,
as we didn't have to with Charlie.   His attention is directed out of the  frame
to his right, where we think Charlie is.   Before him on the table are both  the
knife and the gun, and the eggs,  along with the coffee "cups" Richard has  been
setting out.  Chico  tells Charlie of  he and Richard  "going straight," with  a
lean towards Charlie and a grin on his face.  This affect of intimacy, humor  at
his and Richard's situation, shows his reversion to a brotherly understanding he
expects from  Charlie.   Also, we  see  a "black"  humor  at his  finding  their
situation funny.  They were trying to be something they were not, much the  same
way Charlie was.  The camera pans back  to Charlie as Richard serves him  coffee
first, again implying he is  a guest.  Richard's face is  not seen in a full  or
flat view, but  as a horizontal  "into" the frame  as he leans  over the  table.
Thus he does not interrupt the preference given to the other brothers, but seems
to condone and nurture it.  The shot ends with Richard finishing the pouring  of
his own coffee  from a position  to the  right and slightly  behind Charlie,  as
Charlie looks at Chico.  Charlie faces across  the camera view at close to a  90
degree angle, while Chico almost faces it squarely.
	The cut to the next shot is almost  a jump cut.  Richard is now off  the
left edge,  with  only the  coffee  pot and  his  hands visible.   Chico  is  in
mid-frame in a closer shot than we last saw, and once again he is more square to
the camera.  He can  command these things.  Richard  walks behind Chico to  pour
his coffee from Chico's  left side, waiter-like.  This  also serves to keep  him
from coming between Charlie and Chico.  He then exits to the left behind  Chico.
As Chico says that he  and Richard should have  "bumped them off" (the  robbers)
there is a  cut to what  seems to be  empty space.  This  is very  disconcerting
after two very long takes, with only one short static close-up in between.   The
whole image is quite abstract,  especially when we see  a figure enter from  the
upper left corner, a  new camera angle, completely  obscuring the space.  It  is
Richard in his black sweater, which serves to 'compress' the frame downwards  as
he is seated.  This leaves  us with a close-up of  Richard, shot from above  and
over Charlie.  We see a rounded, full face surrounded by curly locks.  He  looks
somewhat cherubic, child-like.  The camera angle downward seems to  substantiate
this - his child-like quality  - by giving us  a dominating viewpoint.  This  is
especially evident  as  Richard tells  Chico  that  Charlie has  killed  a  man.
Richard does not take his eyes off Charlie as he relates this information to his
other brother.  We see this  as tattling on Charlie; we  watch as he judges  his
words not by the reaction of whom they're spoken to, but whom they're spoken of.
It is at this point that we see Richard's place between his two brothers.  As at
the table he is eventually placed between,  in life he is there to "tattle",  to
shuttle information between them, to sometimes act as buffer, but never to  make
important final judgements or decisions.  Yet  he is the "functioning" one,  the
brother who hasn't gotten himself all beat up, who does the domestic chores, who
retains a  presentable, honest  name, Richard,  as opposed  to the  cuteness  of
"Chico" and the lie of  "Charlie."  He is the one  who has accepted his life  in
hiding, he needs no gun, is not moping about the past.  Opposed to this  ability
to shed "external" influences,  he is also the  ultimate "follower"; Chico is  a
bumbler, true, and Charlie has also bumbled through his experience, but  Richard
continues to act  on Chico's decisions  and look for  support from Charlie.   As
Richard tells on Charlie, we  see Charlie's head sliding  out of the lower  left
corner of the  frame as it  is bent  forward.  Charlie acknowledges  his act  by
lowering his head.   The camera then  serves to additionaly  subjugate with  the
angle looking down on both brothers, and  by placing Charlie's head in front  of
Richard, much as a slave would bow before a master.  We are still at the highest
point of view,  but that doesn't  last as the  film cuts to  a dual close-up  of
Richard and Chico, who is on the right.
	The camera is once again level.   Richard is slightly forward of  Chico;
here he is again identified as the informant, a literal shuttle as he looks back
towards Chico.   The  camera  angle  is much  closer  than  previously  to  what
Charlie's view  would be.   He is  finally starting  to become  enmeshed in  the
brotherly dialogue.  Once again  the brothers' bodies extend  out of the  frame.
The shot being  closer, the edge  is through  their heads; the  center third  is
empty, but this time  it is divided  by a corner, and  resulting shadow, in  the
wall.  Consequently, the thirds of the image actually become fourths or  halves,
balanced, as Charlie sees his brothers.
	These are his  brothers.  They will  always be separate  from him.   His
view extends out from himself  to encompass them, where  he can either make  the
balance an equal three-way split, or a two-way split between himself on one side
and the two of them on the other.   As earlier shots seemed to be of the  first,
tri-lateral view by not being from Charlie's viewpoint, this shot serves to  set
up Charlie's inclusion.   It is  the "steeling shot,"  as he  sees his  brothers
before him, possessing the  truth of his actions.   Chico laughs as he  realizes
that Richard has spoken the truth, and then there is one final pan to the  right
to show Chico in single  close-up.  He is now ready  to speak his judgement  and
Charlie knows it.   As Chico speaks,  the camera  cuts to Charlie's  back as  he
walks from the  table.  "T'est  comme nous."  (You  are like  us.)  Charlie  has
finally entered the scene as a participant, not as merely a guest.