Love on the Run (1979 film)

Love on the Run (L'amour en fuite) is a 1979 French comedy-drama film directed by François Truffaut, his fifth and final film about the character Antoine Doinel. Told in non-linear fashion, with frequent flashbacks to the four previous films, it stars Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claude Jade, Marie-France Pisier, Dorothée, and Dani. It was entered into the 29th Berlin International Film Festival.

Plot
Years after their reconciliation, Antoine and his wife Christine are in the midst of divorce procedurals. While both take turns taking care of their son Alphonse, Antoine is dating Sabine, a woman who works at a record store. One day, Antoine is spotted by an ex-girlfriend of his, the lawyer Colette. This makes her curious about Antoine and goes to a bookstore after learning that he wrote a semi-autobiographical novel years before. The store's owner, Xavier, is Colette's current boyfriend, but she does not know if he truly loves her.

To travel to a court case, she hops on a train. Before the train leaves the railway station, Colette reads Antoine's book and finds out he has edited moments of his life to seem less desperate. Antoine is at the same station to say goodbye to Alphonse, who will study music outside of Paris and is taking another train. Before leaving the station, Antoine and Colette see each other, and he decides to sneak into her train, where they strike up a conversation. Pretending he is talking about a novel he will write, Antoine reveals how he met Sabine: some time before, in a phone booth, a man destroyed a picture of her, his former lover. Antoine later found the torn-up photograph, reconstructed it with tape and was smitten with the face he found. He decided to find Sabine and eventually spotted her in the record shop, where they started their relationship.

After talking for a while, Colette is disappointed to discover that he is still as self-centered and immature as she remembered him to be. He eventually tries to kiss her, but she backs off, and the two start arguing. While sneaking off the moving train, Antoine accidentally drops Sabine's photo. Realizing his story was true, Colette decides to save the picture.

Antoine visits Sabine and finds out that she is getting tired of his constant letters and his egocentric behavior. Antoine knows that, to save his relationship, he has to come clean about how he knew of Sabine, but realizes he lost the photo that could prove his story. At his work, he is traced by Lucien, a lover of his mother who takes him to her grave, which Antoine never had searched for.

Days later, after arriving back in Paris, Collette reads an inscription on the back of the photograph and learns that Sabine shares her last name with Xavier. At first, she believes that Sabine is Xavier's secret wife, but eventually realizes she is just his sister. Colette decides to return the photograph to Sabine, but after knocking on the latter's door, Colette realizes she is not home. While on the stairs to Sabine's apartment, however, Colette meets Christine. The two discuss Antoine, their lives, and their children. During this conversation, Christine reveals why she is divorcing Antoine: on a summer holiday, she found him in bed with her friend Liliane. Christine did not feel heartbroken by this, but that is how she realized she was not in love with Antoine anymore. Colette, on the other hand, reveals that her son has died in an accident, and she then divorced. However, she hopes to form a permanent relationship with Xavier. After saying that, Colette realizes she needs to be with him and gives the photo to Christine before running away to reunite with Xavier.

Christine gives the photo to Antoine, who shows it to Sabine while revealing how they really met. Moved, Sabine and Antoine reconcile and kiss.

Cast

 * Jean-Pierre Léaud as Antoine Doinel
 * Claude Jade as Christine Doinel
 * Marie-France Pisier as Colette
 * Dorothée as Sabine Barnerias
 * Dani as Liliane
 * Daniel Mesguich as Xavier Barnerias
 * Julien Bertheau as Monsieur Lucien
 * Jean-Pierre Ducos as Christine's lawyer
 * Marie Henriau as the Judge
 * Rosy Varte as Colette's mother
 * Julien Dubois as Alphonse Doinel
 * Pierre Dios as M. Renard
 * Alain Ollivier as the judge in Aix
 * Monique Dury as Mme. Ida
 * Emmanuel Clot as the friend at the printing press

Reception
The film holds a rating of 58% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The New York Times placed the film on its Best 1000 Movies Ever list.