The Soft Skin

The Soft Skin is a 1964 French-Portuguese romantic drama film directed by François Truffaut and starring Jean Desailly, Françoise Dorléac, and Nelly Benedetti. Written by Truffaut and Jean-Louis Richard, it is about a married successful writer and lecturer who meets and has an affair with a beautiful flight attendant half his age. The film was shot on location in Paris, Reims, and Lisbon, and several scenes were filmed at Paris-Orly Airport. At the 1964 Cannes Film Festival, the film was nominated for the Palme d'Or. Despite Truffaut's recent success with Jules and Jim and The 400 Blows, The Soft Skin did not do well at the box office. Plot Pierre Lachenay, a middle-aged married father and well-known writer, lecturer, and editor of a literary magazine, just barely makes it to Paris-Orly Airport in time to catch his plane to Lisbon. As he disembarks, the photographers who have gathered to greet Pierre ask him to pose for a picture with Nicole, a beautiful young flight attendant who had caught his eye during the flight. After delivering a talk titled "Balzac and Money" in a sold-out auditorium, Pierre returns to his hotel, which is also where Nicole is staying. He sees her in the elevator and then, having noticed the room number on her key, calls her from his room to ask if she would like to get a drink, but she declines because of the late hour. Shortly after hanging up, Nicole calls back, and Pierre agrees to go out for drinks the following evening, even though he had been scheduled to catch a plane at noon. On their date, Pierre and Nicole talk in a bar until sunrise, and then return to their hotel and make love in Nicole's room. She slips him her phone number on the flight back to Paris, and he sneaks off and tries to call her that night while he and Franca, his wife of fifteen years, are entertaining friends, but Nicole is not at home.