Fold your hands child, you walk like a peasant

“One thing is certain: Truffaut became fully ‘Hitchcock-ified,’ literally ‘Hitchcock-ified’ stylistically, starting with The Soft Skin. There’s a scene in that film that I find both good and not so good because of how outrageously it imitates Hitchcock. It’s the scene where the provincial critics are introduced to Desailly’s character. It’s shot exactly like when the Nazi spies are introduced to Bergman in Notorious. It’s exactly the same, shot for shot. It’s exactly the same thing. To me, although it works well in Hitchcock’s film, here it seems excessive. I understand that provincial critics are terrifying, but nothing like Nazi spies! I think using the same approach was overdoing it a bit.” -- Claude Chabrol