Editing François Truffaut (section)

== Early life ==
Truffaut was born in Paris on 6 February 1932.<ref>{{cite book| title=501 Movie Directors| editor-first=Steven Jay| editor-last=Schneider| publisher=Cassell Illustrated| location=London| year=2007|pages=352–353|isbn=9781844035731|oclc=1347156402}}</ref> His mother was Janine de Montferrand. His mother's future husband, Roland Truffaut, accepted him as an adopted son and gave him his surname. He was passed around to live with various [[Nanny| nannies]] and his grandmother for a number of years. His grandmother instilled in him her love of books and music. He lived with her until her death, when Truffaut was eight years old. It was only after her death that he lived with his parents.<ref name="New Wave Film Encyclopedia">{{cite web |url=http://www.newwavefilm.com/french-new-wave-encyclopedia/francois-truffaut.shtml |title=Francois Truffaut – French New Wave Director |publisher=Newwavefilm.com |access-date=6 February 2012 |archive-date=6 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206195011/http://www.newwavefilm.com/french-new-wave-encyclopedia/francois-truffaut.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> Truffaut's biological father's identity is unknown, but a private detective agency in 1968 revealed that its inquiry into the matter led to a Roland Levy, a Jewish dentist from [[Bayonne]]. Truffaut's mother's family disputed the finding but Truffaut believed and embraced it.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Robert Ingram|author2=Paul Duncan| title=François Truffaut: Film Author, 1932–1983|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UtDWnNzi3jMC&pg=PA94|year=2004|publisher=Taschen|isbn=978-3-8228-2260-9|page=94|access-date=28 October 2016|archive-date=21 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230821124346/https://books.google.com/books?id=UtDWnNzi3jMC&pg=PA94|url-status=live}}</ref>

Truffaut often stayed with friends and tried to be out of the house as much as possible. He knew [[Robert Lachenay]] from childhood, and they were lifelong best friends. Lachenay was the inspiration for the character René Bigey in ''[[The 400 Blows]]'' and worked as an assistant on some of Truffaut's films. Cinema offered Truffaut the greatest escape from an unsatisfying home life. He was eight years old when he saw his first movie, [[Abel Gance]]'s ''Paradis Perdu'' (''Paradise Lost'', 1939), beginning his obsession. He frequently skipped school and sneaked into theaters because he lacked the money for admission. At age eleven, he read [[Émile Zola]]'s ''[[Thérèse Raquin]]'' (1868), which inspired him to become a novelist.<ref name=NYTObit/> After being expelled from several schools, at age 14 he decided to become self-taught. Two of his academic goals were to watch three movies a day and read three books a week.<ref name="New Wave Film Encyclopedia" /><ref name="AllMovie">{{cite web |url=http://www.allmovie.com/artist/franois-truffaut-114620/bio |title=François Truffaut – Movie and Film Biography and Filmography |publisher=Allmovie.com |date=21 October 1984 |access-date=6 February 2012 |archive-date=4 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100204020305/http://www.allmovie.com/artist/franois-truffaut-114620/bio |url-status=live }}</ref>

"What switched me to films was the flood of American pictures into Paris after the [[Liberation of Paris| Liberation]]".<ref name=NYTObit/> Truffaut frequented [[Henri Langlois]]'s [[Cinémathèque Française]], where he was exposed to countless foreign films, becoming familiar with American cinema and directors such as [[John Ford]], [[Howard Hawks]] and [[Nicholas Ray]], as well as British director [[Alfred Hitchcock]].<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/francois-truffaut-at-cinematheque-francaise-747692|title='Francois Truffaut' at the Cinematheque Francaise: Exhibition Review| newspaper=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]| language=en| access-date=31 January 2017|archive-date=8 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808191206/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/francois-truffaut-at-cinematheque-francaise-747692|url-status=live}}</ref>