The proÂtagÂoÂnist of Ray BradÂbury’s FahrenÂheit 451 is a “fireÂman” tasked with incinÂerÂatÂing what few books remain in a domesÂtic-screen-domÂiÂnatÂed future sociÂety forced into illitÂerÂaÂcy. Late in life, Ray BradÂbury declared that he wrote the novÂel because he was “worÂried about peoÂple being turned into morons by TV.” This tinges with a cerÂtain irony givÂen that the latÂest adapÂtaÂtion was made for HBO (2018). That project, which one critÂic likened it to “a GlaxÂoÂSmithKÂline proÂducÂtion of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World,” will probÂaÂbly not be the last FahrenÂheit 451 movie. Nor was it the first: that title goes to the one NouÂvelle Vague auteur François TrufÂfaut’s film directÂed in 1966, though many count that as a dubiÂous honÂor.
A conÂtemÂpoÂrary review in Time magÂaÂzine memÂoÂrably called TrufÂfaut’s FahrenÂheit 451 a “weirdÂly gay litÂtle picÂture that assails with both horÂror and humor all forms of tyranÂny over the mind of man,” albeit one that “strongÂly supÂports the wideÂly held susÂpiÂcion that Julie Christie canÂnot actuÂalÂly act.”
TrufÂfaut boldÂly cast Christie in a dual role, as both proÂtagÂoÂnist Guy MonÂtag’s TV-and-pill-addictÂed wife and the young rebel who evenÂtuÂalÂly lures him over to the pro-book libÂerÂaÂtion moveÂment. Though some viewÂers see it as the picÂture’s fatal flaw, Scott Tobias, writÂing at The DisÂsolve, calls it a “masÂterÂstroke” that renÂders the nearÂly idenÂtiÂcal charÂacÂters “the abstract repÂreÂsenÂtaÂtives of conÂforÂmiÂty and non-conÂforÂmiÂty they had always been in the book.”
It’s easy to imagÂine what appeal the source mateÂrÂiÂal would have held for TrufÂfaut, the most litÂerÂary-mindÂed leader of the French New Wave; recall the shrine to Balzac kept by young Antoine Doinel in TrufÂfaut’s autoÂbiÂoÂgraphÂiÂcal debut The 400 Blows. By the time he went to work on FahrenÂheit 451, his sixth feaÂture, he’d become what the AmerÂiÂcan behind-the-scenes trailÂer calls an “interÂnaÂtionÂalÂly famous French direcÂtor.” But this time, cirÂcumÂstances conÂspired against him: his increasÂingÂly fracÂtious relaÂtionÂship with Jules and Jim star Oskar WernÂer did the latÂter’s perÂforÂmance as MonÂtag no favors, and the monÂey havÂing come from the U.K. forced him to work in EngÂlish, a lanÂguage of which he had scant comÂmand at the time.
TrufÂfaut himÂself enuÂmerÂates these and othÂer difÂfiÂculÂties in a proÂducÂtion diary pubÂlished over sevÂerÂal issues of Cahiers du CinĂ©Âma (beginÂning with numÂber 175). Yet nearÂly six decades latÂer, his trouÂbled interÂpreÂtaÂtion of FahrenÂheit 451 still fasÂciÂnates. New YorkÂer critÂic Richard Brody calls it “one of Truffaut’s wildest films, a coldÂly flamÂboyÂant outÂpourÂing of visuÂal invenÂtion in the serÂvice of litÂerÂary pasÂsion and artisÂtic memÂoÂry as well as a repuÂdiÂaÂtion of a world of uniÂform conÂveÂnience and comÂfortÂable conÂforÂmiÂty.” Today we may wonÂder why the parasoÂcial relaÂtionÂship MonÂtag’s wife anxÂiousÂly mainÂtains with her teleÂviÂsion, which must have seemed fanÂtasÂtiÂcal in the mid-sixÂties, feels disÂcomÂfitÂingÂly familÂiar — and how long it will be before FahrenÂheit 451 gets re-adaptÂed as a binge-ready presÂtige TV draÂma.
RelatÂed conÂtent:
How TrufÂfaut Became TrufÂfaut: From PetÂty Thief to Great Auteur
Behold SoviÂet AniÂmaÂtions of Ray BradÂbury StoÂries
Why Should We Read Ray Bradbury’s FahrenÂheit 451? A New TED-Ed AniÂmaÂtion Explains
Based in Seoul, ColÂin Marshall writes and broadÂcasts on cities, lanÂguage, and culÂture. His projects include the SubÂstack newsletÂter Books on Cities, the book The StateÂless City: a Walk through 21st-CenÂtuÂry Los AngeÂles and the video series The City in CinÂeÂma. FolÂlow him on TwitÂter at @colinmarshall or on FaceÂbook.