moonspinner55 Puzzling and somewhat pointless drama from Francois Truffaut has a young Frenchman at the turn of the century traveling to Wales to meet with his new girlfriend and her family; once there, he finds himself falling in love with his girlfriend's troubled sister (seems sis is a bit neurotic about her own virginity, wearing it both as a badge of honor and as an angry embarrassment). Dulled-out, inert rumination from a novel by Henri-Pierre Roche, though many critics gave it raves. Hurt overall by colorless performances, bad art direction and a severely long running time. Truffaut added more footage for a 1984 re-release, taking it from 108 minutes to a now-astounding 132 minutes. *1/2 from ****

snucker there are two things that held this film back from being a truffaut masterpiece: the voice over and jean pierre leaud.the voice over is overused in this film and is hardly effective in many cases. the voice over always sound rushed, hasty and monotonous, it hardly treats the story sensitively and it sounds like truffaut (the one doing the voice over) is trying to say it as fast as he can so he can move on to something else in the story. the problem is he uses the voice over to explain complex emotions of the characters and he could have used someone else to do the voice over with more expression and pace. this brings me to my second problem with the film. the voice over is often explaining the complex emotions of leaud's character, claude, while leaud wears the same expression of confusion and dismay throughout the film. he says his lines in that same quiet, shy voice for most of the film and looks uncomfortable and timid in the role. my suspicion is that truffaut used voice over to compensate for leaud's lack of acting ability. leaud is thoroughly miscast as claude, a complex character who is at the center of the love triangle. but somehow, the film does pull together and is a very moving story about what happens when three people distrust their instincts and refuse to make decisions about their feelings for one another. anne and claude hide their intention of committing to each other behind this french idea of "free love" that neither really buys into. muriel is a very religious woman who treads very carefully with claude because of his ideas on love and sex and has some very strong guilty feelings about her sexual desire. claude...well according to the voice over, he prefers to love them from afar than to choose between them. he wants both women, but knows he can't so he subconsciously refuse to choose between them and just go back and forth between the two when the relationship with one becomes difficult. anne and muriel are similar to other truffaut heroines. anne is more forgiving and nurturing and patient, very much like Julie from day for night. muriel is the unstable passionate one who could sacrifice her sanity for a man, very much like catherine from jules and jim or adele H. they're both well acted by kika markham and stacey tendeter, and they're the ones who carry this film. the photography wasn't as lush as i expected it to be, but it has enough eye candy for those who love costume dramas with nice houses and gardens. the voice over and the dialogue are very well written and is poetic without sounding trite most of the time.the film could have been a masterpiece of truffaut if he'd got someone else to do the voice over and got a more competent actor for claude. the film compensates for these weaknesses with superb writing and good performances from the rest of the cast.

FilmCriticLalitRao One must try to watch Anne and Muriel with lovely feelings in heart as Truffaut has created a masterpiece of love.The love portrayed in this film requires sacrifice.This is a kind of cinematic oeuvre which will absolutely captivate your senses.You will wonder how Nestor Almendros has been able to create remarkable images.Everything about this film is perfect.This is a film to be watched with your partner provided you have ever loved someone in your life.

Daniel Karlsson One of my many favorites, one of my favorite Truffauts, and Léauds, is this magnificent film taking place in England/Paris. Kika Markham in this film is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. Overall the film is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. Should be seen in a theater. Very moving.10/10