The Soft Skin

Paris's then-brand-new Orly airport and the still novel phenomenon of air travel form the backdrop for Francois Truffaut's 1964 feature LA PEAU DOUCE ("The Soft Skin"). Pierre (Jean Desailly) is a French publisher who has established an enviable successful bourgeois life and home, married to Italian wife Franca (Nelly Benedetti) and with a little girl. But on a trip to Portugal for a conference, Pierre gives into a fling with his stewardess Nicole (Françoise Dorléac). They struggle to keep their affair secret, and Pierre is torn between a desire to fully give himself to his mistress, or hang o…

CinemaSerf

2026-01-26

⭐ 7

Successful and ostensibly happily married “Pierre” (Jean Desailly) is flying to Lisbon to give a lecture on Balzac when the stewardess “Nicole” (Françoise Dorléac) catches his eye. It turns out that she is staying in the same hotel as him, and so after a trip up in the lift with her - that seems to take forever - he decides to call her from his room and ask her to meet for a drink. After a bit of toing and froing, and despite the fact that he was supposed to be returning to Paris at noon the next day, they agree to meet and are soon having an affair. He’s a publisher who is often travelling aw…