A lot of fun.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This latter period François Truffaut film was one passed on to me by a very kind fellow IMDb user. Having seen Truffaut's Jules et Jim (1962) and not having been particularly blown away by it, I have to admit having feelings of caution with regards this one; particularly given certain similar themes in the plot-line. So I was very pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying this one a great deal more. The story happens in a village in France where a young couple live a contented life. The husband's world is soon turned upside down; however, when a new couple moves in next door in which it turns out the wife was an old lover of his from a relationship that ended acrimoniously.This is a story about intense yet frustrated love and obsession. It worked very well for me, as the simple story has some fine performances underpinning the drama. Gérard Depardieu and Fanny Ardent have strong chemistry in the central roles of the adulterous characters conducting their passionate yet troubled affair. As we follow them through the motions, details slowly emerge about their history, although we are never fully given all the pieces to put together all the facets pertaining to their turbulent romantic past. Some mystery remains, which feels right and only makes the characters more compelling if anything. Like Jules et Jim it is in essence a somewhat tragic love story which doesn't really have a good ultimate message to give about the outcome of passionate love affairs. The most important character aside from the central couple is Madame Odile who runs a tennis club that acts as a social hub of the small local community. She became crippled for life after attempting suicide after being rejected by the man she loved; her story acts as a warning from the past for the young lovers, a warning that they ultimately do not or cannot heed.

Can passion really die when a stormy love affair is over? That seems to be the question behind this 1981 French film, directed by Francois Truffaut. Having seen it when it was released originally, we had the opportunity to watch it recently when it was shown on a cable channel. Although we remembered the premise of the movie, watching for the second time did not have the same impact of the first time. The story is narrated from the point of view of an older woman, Madame Jouve, who had gone through the agonies of losing in love. Her ordeal ended in trying to commit suicide, the scars of which she is presently suffering from the injury she received on her leg that now slows her movements. Mme. Jouve tried to jump from an eighth floor of a building, almost killing herself.The action takes place on a small town near Grenoble. Bernard Coudray, an engineer, is living in a sort of idyllic suburban house. There is a sign on the house next door which advertises it is for rent. Bernard lives in what appears a happy environment with his wife, Arlette, and their young son. Bernard is surprised when he watches a moving van unload furniture. The house was finally rented.What Bernard does not realize is that he knows the woman moving into the place. She is Mathilde, a woman with whom he was involved in a passionate affair that ended badly. Her arrival means that whatever inner peace he had, will be shattered as he tries to pick up where he and Mathilde left off. The fact they were involved is never known by their present spouses. Mathilde is married to a flight controller, Philippe.As Arlette makes friends with her new neighbors, but one look between Bernard and Mathilde sets the stage for the passion that consumes them. The next thing is finding a place where to consummate what they feel about one another. It is impossible to hide what they feel for one another, something that is too obvious to hide. Mme. Jouve realizes what is going on right away, but Arlette and Philippe are totally blind about the affair.As all things of this nature, the lovers are doomed. Both lovers are now married to others; there is not much for them to do if they do not want to hurt their current spouses. A desperate Mathilde has a lot more to lose. Arlette is more forgiving about her husband's deceit. Philippe decides to make a clean break from the house that brought so much unhappiness, but it is too late. Mathilde has another thing in mind that will seal her destiny with Bernard."The Woman Next Door" by Francois Truffaut tells a passionate love story in which the director, clearly influenced by his idol Alfred Hitchcock, gives the audience a good love story with suspenseful undertones. Mr. Truffaut worked on the screenplay with his often collaborator, Suzanne Schiffman, and Jean Aurel, who had also worked with him. The idea of bringing two former lovers into such close environment is almost impossible to pull. In this case, the mere idea the cheated spouses did not have a hint what was going on in front of them, adds another layer to the narrative. Fanny Ardant's Mathilde is one of her best appearances in the French cinema. One can see her lust for a man that could have been hers, but things got in her way. Now seeing him again, she wants him, no matter what. Gerard Depardieu's Bernard does not quite come as inspired as some of his other roles, but he makes a credible lover and one can see how his desire for her never died. Veronique Silver is splendid as Mme. Jouve. Michelle Baumgartner and Henri Garcin are seen as Arlette and Philippe.

Despite its distinguished provenance, and despite the presence of the stunning Fanny Ardant, this is pure soap. It even has a local busybody chattering background on the characters, a tested U.S. soap-opera technique. Gerard Depardieu is wooden and unconvincing as Ardant's lover. The rest of the cast (except for Ardant) is adequate at best. I don't think Truffault ever made a worse movie. It does exhibit his economy of expression and beautiful style, but nothing can save it from its own sentimentality and simple-mindedness. I don't believe this turkey has ever been in general release in the U.S., which should soften the hearts of even the most savage haters of the French. They did us the favor of keeping this one mostly to themselves.

An outstanding love story, with an astonishing, riveting performance from Fanny Ardant. My own love affair with Truffaut began as a teenager when I first saw "Jules and Jim." But "La femme d'a cote" moved me most directly and most powerfully of all his great work. Is love "toujours triste"? No, not always sad; now that I'm in my forties, I'm much less a romantic. And love may be of many varieties. But deep romantic love, I do believe, rarely appears on screen as honestly portrayed as here. "The Woman Next Door" presents us with the power, the physical impact of love, the way it "takes our breath" away and so much more. Truffaut so often focuses on love, and usually more positively and in a greater variety of ways than other great directors. But if you want funny, fresh young love, see Truffaut's "Soft Skin" or even "Don't Shoot the Piano Player. His films which are more about infatuation versus love, i.e., the original (Truffaut's film, not the American one with Bert Reynolds) "The Man Who Loved Women" or even the Hitchcock tribute "The Bride Wore Black" while "darker" in tone -- all these remain quite funny, generally light in tone, and quite lively in pace and style. In "The Woman Next Door," more tragic, melancholic moments appear -- it's more akin to the highly autobiographical "The 400 Blows," which tells of Truffaut's difficult adolescence. Yet it has its lighter moments, too. My own response was a strong interest in the drama, the suspense, and astonishment at the beauty of the story, the acting, and the many moments of cinematic genius. Truffaut did, personally, fall in love with Ardant, the lead actress here; they married, so just how much autobiography went into this tale and film -- I don't know. "Next Door" represents Truffaut in a mature phase of his life and career, one which shot off like a rocket and just kept climbing. Ardant went on to act well in many other films, even in several after Truffaut's death. In her starring role here, she made her debut to my acquaintance. She stunned me; I thought I knew Truffaut's work well enough -- after ten to twelve years of trying to see everything available by him, reading about him, and so forth. Yet this film knocked me out, all the same. Superb.