Fahrenheit 451
Directed by François Truffaut
- drama
- science fiction
The story
In the future, the government maintains control of public opinion by outlawing literature and maintaining a group of enforcers, known as “firemen,” to perform the necessary book burnings. Fireman Montag begins to question the morality of his vocation…
What it’s like
Cool, clean modernist interiors wash in flat, even daylight and then give way to glowing red and orange of the fire trucks and burning paper, with the film's bright, saturated color scheme clearly chosen for effect. Truffaut frames people in symmetrical, deliberately staged compositions, with long pauses and static shots of monorail stations, sleek apartments and wall-mounted television screens that feel uncanny rather than threatening. The score is a sparse, sometimes eerie electronic and string texture, and much of the film moves at a measured, dreamlike pace punctuated by quiet domestic scenes. Its mood is cool, detached and melancholy, with a slow-building ache about isolation and conformity. Intensity is low to moderate: there is some book burning and fire imagery, a few tense confrontations and some political menace, but no gore and little overt violence. It suits a slow, reflective evening or a thoughtful double feature, and it is for viewers who enjoy stylized dystopias, French New Wave sensibilities and intimate stories about a marriage under strain.
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