The Green Room (La Chambre Verte) is perhaps the least well-known of Francois Truffaut's 1970s films. Truffaut himself stars as Julien Davenne, a WW I-era journalist obsessed with death. As his friends drop like flies on the battlefield, Davenne's obsessions overwhelm him. At war's end, he devotes all his energies to building a special shrine to his fallen comrades. No matter how elaborate this shrine becomes, it will always pale in comparison to its counterpart in Davenne's own home, constructed in the memory of his late wife. He briefly comes out of his morbid shell when he falls in love with Cecilia Mandel (Nathalie Baye), but she proves to be a disappointment to him, driving him farther and farther into necrophilia, not to mention an all-consuming death wish. The Green Room was adapted from a short story by Henry James.

The Green Room (French: La chambre verte) is a 1978 French film directed by François Truffaut and based on the Henry James short story, "The Altar of the Dead", in which a man becomes obsessed with the dead people in his life and builds a memorial to them. It is also based on two other short stories by Henry James: "The Beast in the Jungle" and "The Way It Came". It was Truffaut's seventeenth feature film as a director and the third and last of his own films in which he acted in a leading role. It starred Truffaut, Nathalie Baye, Jean Dasté and Patrick Maléon.

Truffaut spent several years working on the film's script and felt a special connection to the theme of honoring and remembering the dead. In the film, he included portraits of people from his own life at the main character's "Altar of the Dead". The Green Room was one of Truffaut's most highly praised films by both critics and colleagues, but also one of his most financially unsuccessful.

The action takes place ten years after the end of World War I in a small town in France. The protagonist, Julien Davenne, is a war veteran who works as an editor at the newspaper, "The Globe". He specializes in funeral announcements ("a virtuoso of the obituary", as defined by its editor-in- chief) and the thought of death haunts him. Davenne has reserved a room for the worship of his wife, Julie, on the upper floor of the house he shares with his elderly housekeeper, Mrs. Rambaud, and Georges, a deaf-mute boy. His wife had died eleven years prior, at the height of her beauty.

During a thunderstorm a fire destroys the green room, Davenne managing to save only pictures and portraits of his wife. On discovering an abandoned chapel in ruins, at the same cemetery where Julie is buried, Julien decides to consecrate it not only to his wife but to all the cemetery's dead, having reached "that point in life where you know more dead than alive." The place is transformed into a forest of lighted candles, with photos of all the people he treasured in life.

To keep the chapel Davenne calls a young woman, Cecilia, secretary of the auction house which has regained a ring that had belonged to Julie. The friendship between the two seems to evolve when Paul Massigny, a French politician and Davenne's former best friend dies. The film suggests that Massigny once betrayed Davenne but does not say what constituted the betrayal. When Davenne first visits Cecilia at home Davenne discovers that the living room is full of pictures of Massigny and, without asking for explanations, leaves.

At the chapel, Cecilia tells him that she was one of Massigny's many women and still loves him. She requests that Massigny be represented by one of the candles on the altar. After being rebuffed by Davenne, Cecilia breaks off the relationship and he breaks down. He locks away at home, refusing to eat, to see the doctor, or talk. The managing editor of "The Globe", recommends that Cécilia write him a letter. She finally declares her love, knowing he would never reciprocate, "because to be loved by you, I should be dead." Davenne joins her in the chapel, having forgiven Massigny, but he is weakened and falls to the ground and dies. Cécilia completes the work, as she had asked the first time, dedicating one last candle to Julien Davenne.

Truffaut completed the editing of The Green Room in March 1978 and showed it to his trusted friends and co-workers, who immediately praised the film and called it one of his best films. Isabelle Adjani told him that "Of all your films it is the one that most moved me and spoke to me, along with Two English Girls. I felt good crying in your presence."[15] Alain Delon told Truffaut that "The Green Room, along with Clément, Visconti and very few others, is part of my secret garden."[15] Éric Rohmer told him that "I found your film deeply moving. I found you deeply moving in your film."[15] Antoine Vitez told Truffaut "I haven't yet told you the emotion I felt on seeing The Green Room. What I see in it, deep down, is kindness, and that's what touches me most. Thank you for having included me in it."[15]

The Green Room was both Truffaut's worst financial failure and one of his most critically praised films, though one major French film critic, François Chalais of Le Figaro, disliked the film.[15] Pascal Bonitzer called it "his ... most profound, and without much exaggeration, one of the most beautiful French films of recent years,"[16] and that "it is not for nothing that Truffaut embodies his character, and that in the latter, Julien Davenne, the author and the actor are entwined in the tightest possible way...rarely does a filmmaker involve himself to that point - involving his body (and note all the ambiguity of the word in the context of this funeral film) and even his dead; mixing together Julien Davenne's dead with those of François Truffaut in the flaming chapel where the film comes to an end."[16] Joel Magny called Julien Davenne the ultimate "truffaldian" hero, "unable to live the present moment in the fullness of his being, where he is...in a perpetual time-lag with reality."[17] The French magazine Télérama called Davenne "l'homme qui aimant les flammes".[18] Jean-Louis Bory of Le Nouvel Observateur said that "In its simple and pure line, it resembles a cinematic testament. There will be other Truffaut films, but none that will ever be more intimate, more personal, more wrenching than this Green Room, altar of the dead."[15]

The Green Room was released on April 5, 1978 and was a financial failure, selling slightly more than 30,000 tickets.[19] Truffaut knew that a film about death would be difficult to market or attract an audience, but felt strongly that "this kind of theme can touch a deep chord in many people. Everyone has their dead."[15] Truffaut took a personal interest in promoting the film and hired press agent, Simon Misrahi.[15] A few days before the film's premiere, Truffaut completely changed his approach, putting more emphasis on his own track record as a filmmaker and the presence of rising star, Natalie Baye. In a television appearance to promote the film, Truffaut showed two clips from the film that had nothing to do with the dead. Truffaut was extremely upset by the film's financial failure and referred to it as "The Empty Room". He publicly stated that he would not act again for at least ten years and regretted not casting Charles Denner in the lead role.[20] Truffaut later blamed United Artists for not promoting the film properly, which led to his breaking from the US company for the first time in over ten years.[21] Truffaut premiered The Green Room in the US at the 1978 New York Film Festival.[20]
Truffaut completed the editing of The Green Room in March 1978 and showed it to his trusted friends and co-workers, who immediately praised the film and called it one of his best films. Isabelle Adjani told him that "Of all your films it is the one that most moved me and spoke to me, along with Two English Girls. I felt good crying in your presence."[15] Alain Delon told Truffaut that "The Green Room, along with Clément, Visconti and very few others, is part of my secret garden."[15] Éric Rohmer told him that "I found your film deeply moving. I found you deeply moving in your film."[15] Antoine Vitez told Truffaut "I haven't yet told you the emotion I felt on seeing The Green Room. What I see in it, deep down, is kindness, and that's what touches me most. Thank you for having included me in it."[15]

The Green Room was both Truffaut's worst financial failure and one of his most critically praised films, though one major French film critic, François Chalais of Le Figaro, disliked the film.[15] Pascal Bonitzer called it "his ... most profound, and without much exaggeration, one of the most beautiful French films of recent years,"[16] and that "it is not for nothing that Truffaut embodies his character, and that in the latter, Julien Davenne, the author and the actor are entwined in the tightest possible way...rarely does a filmmaker involve himself to that point - involving his body (and note all the ambiguity of the word in the context of this funeral film) and even his dead; mixing together Julien Davenne's dead with those of François Truffaut in the flaming chapel where the film comes to an end."[16] Joel Magny called Julien Davenne the ultimate "truffaldian" hero, "unable to live the present moment in the fullness of his being, where he is...in a perpetual time-lag with reality."[17] The French magazine Télérama called Davenne "l'homme qui aimant les flammes".[18] Jean-Louis Bory of Le Nouvel Observateur said that "In its simple and pure line, it resembles a cinematic testament. There will be other Truffaut films, but none that will ever be more intimate, more personal, more wrenching than this Green Room, altar of the dead."[15]

The Green Room was released on April 5, 1978 and was a financial failure, selling slightly more than 30,000 tickets.[19] Truffaut knew that a film about death would be difficult to market or attract an audience, but felt strongly that "this kind of theme can touch a deep chord in many people. Everyone has their dead."[15] Truffaut took a personal interest in promoting the film and hired press agent, Simon Misrahi.[15] A few days before the film's premiere, Truffaut completely changed his approach, putting more emphasis on his own track record as a filmmaker and the presence of rising star, Natalie Baye. In a television appearance to promote the film, Truffaut showed two clips from the film that had nothing to do with the dead. Truffaut was extremely upset by the film's financial failure and referred to it as "The Empty Room". He publicly stated that he would not act again for at least ten years and regretted not casting Charles Denner in the lead role.[20] Truffaut later blamed United Artists for not promoting the film properly, which led to his breaking from the US company for the first time in over ten years.[21] Truffaut premiered The Green Room in the US at the 1978 New York Film Festival.[20]

Release Date: September 17, 1979

Distrib: New World Pictures