Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

Truffaut’s adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s great dystopian novel is a hymn to books and a warning of the dangers of censorship.

Montag is a fireman living under a totalitarian regime where firemen don’t put out fires: they hunt for books and incinerate them. But the discovery of a copy of David Copperfield turns his world upside down.

The film’s reputation has grown exponentially over the years, with Martin Scorsese quoting it as a key influence. And with book banning currently at unprecedented levels in the US, Fahrenheit 451 feels more resonant than ever. Its vision of the future is unnervingly familiar and brilliantly realised through Nicolas Roeg’s sumptuous, red-dominated Technicolor cinematography.

This is a film about the power and importance of literature, and its final, snowy sequences set among the rebel ‘Book People’, are among the most magical, moving and hopeful in cinema. Robin Baker

UK, 1966. Director François Truffaut. Screenplay by François Truffaut and Jean-Louis Richard from the 1953 novel by Ray Bradbury. With Julie Christie, Oskar Werner, Cyril Cusack. 112 mins. 12

Introduced by Eddy Pearce.

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BFI programme notes

380957