The 400 Blows (1959) (Not Rated)

The 400 Blows (1959) (Not Rated)

Directed by François Truffaut

Starring: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Robert Beauvais, Claire Maurier, Albert Remy

Daddy Says:

My cinematic experience with director François Truffaut, before watching this film, was limited to his performance in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. After watching this, his debut as a director, I can say I'm now interested in seeing more of his work.

The 400 Blows, which is a poor translation of the French title which roughly equates to "raising hell", has an autobiographical feel to it. We follow closely the life of Antoine Doinel, a troubled and misunderstood youth as he goes to his boys school, is picked on his teachers (now I'm wondering if this is what Pink Floyd were referring to in Another Brick in the Wall), tries to get his homework done in a small, cramped apartment with his parents fighting in the next room, skips school with a friend, etc. We get to know the boy almost better than the people who should be closest to him.

Antoine really has no role models to guide him. His attempts to guide himself fail miserably. He discovers Balzac and writes an essay about him as an homage, which his teacher accuses him of plagiarizing. A shrine he builds to the famous writer in his home ends up nearly burning down the entire apartment. He steals a typewriter from his father's office, then can't sell it, and when he tries to return it he is caught by the watchman. His best laid plans never seem to work out.

Yes, he makes some bad choices for himself. Claiming that your mother died and that's why your weren't in school yesterday is probably not the wisest decision. But he is really given no guidance on how to live his life. His stepfather isn't really interested in raising a son that's not his, and his mother wants to be more of a friend than a parent. His teachers are constantly tearing him down, and the fellow students are equally clueless on how to grow up in a world without role models.

There really isn't a plot to speak of in The 400 Blows. Truffaut's camera is content to simply observe Antoine's life, never criticizing or interpreting, leaving the viewers as the only people who may lay judgment on his characters. This is a film that stays with you long after it ends (on a freeze-frame of Antoine's face. Is he happy? Sad? We are left to decide for ourselves). There isn't really what can be described as a typical story arc. Things happen, people talk, life goes on. This is a movie that you can watch many times over and still discover new moments and feelings contained within.

Rating for The 400 Blows: *****.

Daughter Says:

The 400 Blows isn’t one of those everyday movies that you see. This movie was full of emotion and drama. There aren’t that many French movies I can say that about. I really haven’t found many French movies that I’ve liked. The last French film that I saw that I really enjoyed was Let the Right One In. I loved that movie. I don’t know why, but it was good. It was nice to see a good French film again.

The boy who played Antoine was great in this movie. He really pulled off a troubled child that was heading towards disaster. I must say I was very surprised that I liked this movie. It ended without a resolution, which is one of my pet peeves. I have to have a purpose for watching a movie and this one really didn’t. The strange thing is, even though it was unsatisfying, I wasn’t all that upset about it. The movie in itself had no point really and so I expected no point at the end I guess.

So what did turn me on about this movie? Well the beauty of it all was rather appealing. I really enjoyed watching every scene, even with the black and white and subtitles popping up on the screen. Every frame was shot perfectly to show what was going on in the moment. At one point, Antoine runs away from the school he was attending. The camera runs with him along the path, so all you see is Antoine running and the fields moving behind him. It’s a very long shot that has no cuts in it what so ever. It’s amazing how smoothly the camera moved with him.

Other than the camera work, there was the acting. I know a little French, so I didn’t have to read parts of the subtitles I didn’t have to read. This made it a lot easier for me to watch the movie and really enjoy it. I didn’t quite understand that the man living with Antoine and his mother was the step-father. I always thought that it was his dad, so that was a little confusing. But other than, I didn’t have any trouble following what was going on at all.

This movie is definitely a drama, so if you want to see an action packed film, The 400 Blows is not for you. People might say that this is a must see movie, but I don’t love this movie that much. If you want to see it go out and rent it, but I’m not going to tell you that you should watch it before you die. It’s not a must see film.

Rating for The 400 Blows: ****.