1981 - THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR, is Truffaut's melodramatic story of a love affair

A newly married couple moves into a house next door to another couple with kids, it turns out that the newlywed wife had been involved with their neighbor's husband in a passionate love affair a few years ago.

Only Francois Truffaut's  filmmaking skill saves this film from descending into total melodrama, as it is The Woman Next Door is a very improbable tale of obsessive love.

The two lovers come off as a couple of psychos.  They seem hell bent on destroying their families and themselves to a ridiculous degree.  But, I suppose the theme is about the self destructive nature of obsessive love.  Other viewers will have to decide if Truffaut went over the top with this story.

Still, the film is made with great skill.  Truffaut was a director who could have taught classes in the art of story telling on film, making every shot count and getting the best out of your actors.

Truffaut had contemplated making films in America but after working on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, decided that American films weren't for him.  Probably a good idea.

106 minutes