Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451

Directed by François Truffaut

Photographed by Nicolas Roeg

1966

Starring: Oskar Werner, Julie Christie

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At the crest of the French New Wave, many people took the opportunity to do what conventional hollywood techniques didn't permit them to. One of the most prominent figures, if not the most, of this movement was Critic-turned-Director François Truffaut. Truffaut started off as a writer and critic for French magazine Cahiers du Cinéma, often heavily criticizing Hollywood and their means of making films. With this said, his films are definitely unique in order to pull away from this techniques he didn't respect as much. A perfect example would be the opening sequence of Fahrenheit 451, it consists of a montage of whip zooms into what seems like television antennas. The credits are presented over said collage but with a voice over rather than titles. I first saw the film my freshman year in high school, when our english professor used to avert teaching by screening films, and this opening credits sequence intrigued me at once. The set design of the picture is also quite remarkable. Since the movie is set in a not so distant future, it's interesting what Truffaut visions of the future in the 60's was. The movie itself breaks many conventional rules of cinema but it works quite perfectly. The colors used to decorate the film add to the story, bright and infernal. My favorite part of the film is, spoiler alert, when Guy Montag (Oskar Werner) goes and finds the community of the "book people". Everyone in this community has memorized a book. Once they memorize, they destroy it and Guy could not understand why. The message was that even though they can take their books and burn them, they'll never burn their soul.