The soft skin, or the cupidous male mind? Which comes first? This is a critical question here for the refusal to grasp it can have dire repercussions. For Pierre's eroticizing of Nicole may be natural, private, and individual but it is hardly static. For what begins in Pierre's mind, as an arrow, ends up in his own body--as a bullet.
Truffaut seems neither to blame Nicole, Franca, or Pierre for this outcome, but he undoubtedly puts the onus on Pierre. Even though to sexualize someone may seem to be a small act, it nevertheless is a form of ownership--which sets in motion an increasing demand for control, a resistance to that control, and a whirl of ensuing outcomes--which include Pierre's betrayal of both Franca and Nicole.
How does this happen? It happens because a passionless desire, or a certain mental configuration of flesh, can become a way of seeing and experiencing another as less than a subject. When Pierre questions Nicole's wearing jeans, you know he's on the downside of a fast track. When he is embarrassed by her too loud comments in a restaurant, you know he's hit the bottom. Even his age, prestige and subject status--central to his Cupid power-- have abandoned him. The truth is he has eroticized one woman out of existence, and abandoned his loyal, warm wife in the bargain.
Pierre Lachanay, as a kind of bourgeois version of Everyman, is totally believable and not the type of man who rouses ire in anyone. He's precise, articulate, shy, unlucky, and not outstanding in any way. That he ends up loveless, utterly alone, and shot would seem to crown him most sympathetic character, but in line with Truffaut's disciplined control of the action, it does not. For Franca owns the final scene and her husband's infidelity is written deep in her passional and physical being.
Truffaut seems neither to blame Nicole, Franca, or Pierre for this outcome, but he undoubtedly puts the onus on Pierre. Even though to sexualize someone may seem to be a small act, it nevertheless is a form of ownership--which sets in motion an increasing demand for control, a resistance to that control, and a whirl of ensuing outcomes--which include Pierre's betrayal of both Franca and Nicole.
How does this happen? It happens because a passionless desire, or a certain mental configuration of flesh, can become a way of seeing and experiencing another as less than a subject. When Pierre questions Nicole's wearing jeans, you know he's on the downside of a fast track. When he is embarrassed by her too loud comments in a restaurant, you know he's hit the bottom. Even his age, prestige and subject status--central to his Cupid power-- have abandoned him. The truth is he has eroticized one woman out of existence, and abandoned his loyal, warm wife in the bargain.
Pierre Lachanay, as a kind of bourgeois version of Everyman, is totally believable and not the type of man who rouses ire in anyone. He's precise, articulate, shy, unlucky, and not outstanding in any way. That he ends up loveless, utterly alone, and shot would seem to crown him most sympathetic character, but in line with Truffaut's disciplined control of the action, it does not. For Franca owns the final scene and her husband's infidelity is written deep in her passional and physical being.