Made in 1960, ‘Tirez sur le pianiste‘ (the English title is ‘Shoot the Piano Player‘) is François Truffaut‘s second film, released after his formidable debut with ‘Les quatre cent coups‘. The main source of inspiration here is the genre of American mob movies and, as in the previous film, the lead hero is a kind of alter-ego of the director himself. What is special about ‘Tirez sur le pianiste‘ is that Truffaut, probably encouraged by the success of the debut film, boldly experiments cinematically and makes a real slalom between genres combining comedy with melodrama, gangster films with romantic stories. In just 81 minutes, he manages to bring to the screen numerous quotes from the films and genres he admires, as well as cinematographic inventions that make ‘Tirez sur le pianiste‘ a reference film, with cult film status among many generations of filmmakers (it is, for example, one of the favourite movies of Tarantino ). In addition, admirably, it is an alert film, combining comedy with action, without hesitation in seeking to be an entertaining film that seeks to please its viewers. In Truffaut‘s view, good cinema is never boring.
The hero of the film is Charlie Kohler ( Charles Aznavour), a pianist in a band that plays jazz in a small dancing bar. Every night he delights his customers with his music, with a cigarette in the corner of his mouth, with a quarter of a shy smile on his lips. His seemingly banal character, however, hides a tumultuous past, a concert pianist career abandoned after a personal tragedy, a family with two gangster brothers who will re-involve him in the world of crime, another younger brother in his care that Charlie tries to save from a similar fate. Women swarm around him, but luck seems to avoid him. Just when he may have found his salvation in the person of the young and beautiful Lena (Marie Dubois), troubles resume.
Truffaut builds the whole story around Charlie and his loves. His introverted character has an indisputable magnetism amplified by the jazz music, which is also part of the role adopted by the brilliant pianist fleeing his past. Charles Aznavour is perfect in this role and makes us regret that he did not dedicate more time in his career to cinema. Among the women around him (past and present) stands out the luminous presence of Marie Dubois. The pace of the story is fast and all the characters are accurately sketched, leaving a trace even if they appear for a short time on the screen. There are scenes that start in comedy and end in ‘film noir’, others that slip into horror with visual inventions and props reminiscent of the films of Hitchcock, the ultimate idol of Truffaut. Spectators do not have time to get bored at any time. Even when the action is not terribly original, gags or cinematic angles or soundtrack elements appear that ensure continuity and give the film a unique visual and musical look and feel. 60 years after its making ‘Tirez sur le pianiste‘ continues to fascinate, for good reason.