The 400 Blows (1959) User Reviews

One of the shining stars of the French New Wave

[FilmOtaku · 8/10 · 20 September 2004]

Every day life, however 'real' and gritty it may be, is rarely portrayed on film and was certainly a rarity in the 1950's. In Europe however, there was a movement in film-making that embraced this realism and searched for the deeper meaning in the 'here and now'. This is about the most basic and miniscule portion of the meaning behind the French New Wave of the 1950's – films that explored the filmmaker's surroundings, and eventually became an inspiration for filmmakers around the world. Francois Truffaut's 'The 400 Blows' is one of the most well-known films of this movement, and has been embraced and hailed as one of the greatest films of all time.

After viewing Truffaut's 'The 400 Blows', I have been ruminating over the deeper meaning behind his story of Antoine Doinel, a 14 year old boy in Paris who is having trouble in school and trouble at home. In school, he is marginalized as a trouble-maker, yet it is obvious that it is more a matter of him causing trouble by expressing himself creatively rather than following along with mundane assignments. At home, Doinel has to deal with an adulterous mother who only pays attention to him when it suits her needs, and a father who is barely present. Doinel responds by doing the only thing he feels he can do, and that is by acting up; eventually earning an expulsion from school and being sent to a juvenile prison camp by his parents.

Nothing is cut and dry in 'The 400 Blows'. If one were to take the film at face value, there would be a 'so what' feeling. What the film subtly explores is the disenfranchisement of youth. There is no joy in Doinel's life – anytime he tries to express himself creatively or acts up in a playful way he is shot down and metaphorically forced back into line. This is not a typical Paris street kid either, this is one who reads Balzac for pleasure and conveys intense emotion. The problem is that no one is there to notice or care. Another aspect of the French New Wave was that the films were not merely a product of a Hollywood factory; these were intensely personal films to the writers and directors. In the case of 'The 400 Blows', it is certain that Doinel is based on Truffaut, himself only 28 when he made the film. Truffaut's cinematography in 'The 400 Blows' is exquisite. We see a Paris that is not in Technicolor with colorful fountains like 'An American in Paris'. This is Paris from a Parisian's perspective – and the difference is breathtaking and intense. These are not Louis XVI style houses, they are tiny flats where people have to sleep in closets and walk up and down six flights of stairs. The city views are those of a native Parisian – the kind of tour one would get if they asked the average Parisian for non-tourist attractions.

There is still a lot that I have to learn and think about 'The 400 Blows' and French New Wave in general, but with the minute amount of understanding I have of it, I found it to be an intense film, one that left me emotional and craving enlightenment. Rarely is there a film that leaves that kind of impact on me, but Truffaut managed to leave me speechless and deep in thought with 'The Four Hundred Blows'.

--Shel

Timeless...

[Xstal · 8/10 · 18 January 2023]

Antoine Doinel is distracted when at school, he finds it hard to concentrate, teacher thinks that he's a fool, when at home his parents argue, at wits end to know what to do, so the cycle is repeated, as he's trapped in a whirlpool.

It's not an uncommon tale of a misunderstood boy, but at the time it broke the mould and introduced us to things we take for granted today in the world of cinema, as we follow the trials and tribulations of an uncouth youth, who navigates his way to a detention centre via truant, theft and desertion. Wonderfully performed by Jean-Pierre Léaud, it may leave you contemplating paths accepted or rejected during your own formative years, and the implications of the choices you made, assuming you had any.

Deserved Truffaut Classic Benefits Significantly from Criterion's New DVD Package

[EUyeshima · 9/10 · 20 May 2006]

As the seminal work of the French New Wave, the 1959 directorial debut of 27-year old Francois Truffaut has such a vaunted reputation that the final film is bound to disappoint. However, the pristine print that comes with the new Criterion Collection DVD really makes me realize what a brave and emotionally resonant film he made ostensibly about his own troubled adolescence. It's worth seeing twice - once for the film itself and a second time to listen to the newly recorded commentary by Truffaut's childhood friend Robert Lachenay (the true-life inspiration for Rene in the film). Speaking in French but subtitled in English, he provides insights into the story and context of the film that no film scholar or even production associate could possibly provide. As a point of comparison, listen to the by-the-numbers commentary by film scholar Brian Stonehill (recorded back in 1992), which is thoughtful and well researched but devoid of the human factor.

The film's title comes from a French colloquialism that translates into "raising hell", an appropriate reference since the story focuses on a thirteen-year old hellion named Antoine, living in a poor section of Paris and neglected by parents downright arrogant in their dysfunctional nature. Antoine consequently lives a street urchin's life as he lies to people in authority - his parents, his teachers, and the police - since he admits rather sadly that the truth doesn't make any difference. Truffaut tracks Antoine's life through a series of dispiriting episodes that ultimately lead him to be sent away to a reformatory after he gets caught returning a stolen typewriter and his mother and stepfather tire of their responsibility over him. To Truffaut's immense credit, the film feels stark and naturalistic without resorting to dramatic manipulation, and he finds the ideal Antoine in Jean-Pierre Leaud, who brings out the confusion, angst and wandering attention of his character in realistic terms. He is especially impressive in an apparently improvised scene where he is interviewed by the school authorities about why his life has come to this. It is heartbreaking to see how bleak his life becomes, yet Leaud imbues the incorrigible, often intolerable side of Antoine with fervor.

There are several interesting extras included with the 2006 DVD package starting with two separate interviews with Truffaut, the first a year after the film's release discussing he film's impact and the second five years later when we see the filmmaker in a more reflective mood about his cinematic influences. Leaud is featured in 16mm screen test footage where his naturally ebullient personality emerges and then after the 1959 Cannes Film Festival where puberty has apparently kicked in and then in 1965 as a comparatively reserved twenty-year old. The screen test of Richard Kanayan (who has a minor role as a schoolmate) is amusing for his Satchmo-inspired rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In" and his eerie resemblance to Fantasy Island's Tattoo, Herve Villechaize. Be forewarned that the film is relentlessly downbeat, but Truffaut's emotional investment and consummate abilities as a filmmaker, even at this stage of his career, make this essential viewing.

"N'Oublie Pas Les Ordures"

[stryker-5 · 5 August 2000]

So here it is, the landmark film which ushered in the Nouvelle Vague, introduced Francois Truffaut and his screen persona Antoine Doinel to the world, and changed the direction of cinema for ever. And an impressive piece of work it is, too.

By 1959 the process of film-making had atrophied (artistically, at any rate). Stale and stagey artifice was the norm, and for the upcoming generation of film-makers and critics (Truffaut was both) a new way of conceiving cinematic art had to be found. In this, his feature film debut, Truffaut found it.

This is cinema verite at its freshest and best. The film looks like a documentary and absolutely drips with kitchen-sink candour. A handheld camera follows Antoine around his parents' flat and we get to peer in on the grimy, cramped and oh-so-ordinary minutiae of a humble little life. "Don't forget the garbage," Antoine is repeatedly told, and Truffaut certainly doesn't. He pulls off with resounding success the seemingly impossible feat of making the mundane seem entirely absorbing.

"C'est peut-etre un question de glandes," suggests a teacher as we see the adolescent Antoine go quietly off the rails. Paris (or more accurately, that part of Paris bounded by Montmartre and the Gare du Nord) is wintry and stark, the unlovely and prosaic environment in which Antoine functions - or fails to function. Truffaut wants, inter alia, to deflate the "April In Paris" myth so virulent in the 1950's. He succeeds mightily. Antoine is disaffected. Parents, home and school are all inhospitable and the sleety, foggy streets south of Pigalle convey Antoine's alienation admirably.

Deadpan humour is a powerful weapon in Truffaut's armoury. Antoine's inept note-forging, the outlandish excuse which he gives for his absence and his long-suffering look during his mother's reminiscences are all nicely done and raise a chuckle. The bird's-eye view of the P.T. class, shot with a rooftop camera, conveys wordlessly the comedy of the rapidly diminishing line of pupils.

A punch and judy show is filmed from inside the performance canopy, looking out onto the audience of small children. Their total lack of artifice is delightful to see, and underscores Truffaut's point - candour is beautiful, staginess is unacceptable. As Antoine's father frogmarches him along the street after the typewriter debacle, bemused passers-by stop to stare at the camera. Not only is this disarmingly honest, it is also profound. Cinema should exist, as it were, inside the camera, not in elaborate sets. Antoine rides in the spinning drum at the fairground, the camera fixed rigidly on him, allowing the onlookers to dissolve into an undistinguished blur. The camera IS Antoine's subjective self.

The performance of 15-year-old Jean-Pierre Leaud as Antoine is astonishingly good. He is natural and engaging, and his soliloquy (delivered to the psychologist) seems an incredible piece of work for so young an actor.

A long, long tracking shot accompanies Antoine as he runs away from it all, and is intended to convey, by the very rhythm of his breathing, the internal subjectivity of a child who has been let down by his parents and his society. The final freeze-frame, with no histrionic fireworks, no resounding words and no tidy denouement, closes the film on a note of immense emotional power. Antoine is alone.

French cinema at its best

[maax48 · 10/10 · 12 February 2006]

Truffaut has worked wonders here, creating a masterful tale of a boy confused, troubled, and unloved. Antoine Doinel (played superbly by Jean-Pierre Léaud in the lead role) has strict, unfaithful parents, and a harsh, oppressive teacher, and falls into delinquency because of his unhappiness. He lies, steals, skips school and runs away from home, and soon ends up in a juvenile delinquency centre.

Truffaut's inspiration for this film came from his own depressed childhood, so he bases Antoine on himself, including in terms of appearance. Being a 'New Wave' (a cinematographic movement of the sixties, involving directors who believed Hollywood films were too lavish and unreal) director, Truffaut always used a real location for the film, including breathtaking shots of Truffaut's native Paris. He also made a cameo in the film in the style of Hitchcock.

Delinquance is the key theme here. Antoine, who is a character who believes in liberty and freedom, and the way he is always locked up is repressive for him, and this provokes a constant need for him to be out.

Trying to make a realistic and moving film was Truffaut's aim, which, by watching this film, I realised that he had done amazingly well. Also, by combining humour and drama too, we have the defining French film of the 20th century. A black and white film that is full of colour. Bien sur, François Truffaut.

Extraordiany Portrait Of A Parisian Youth - One Of The All Time Greats

[jdnmevans · 10/10 · 12 June 2007]

In viewing François Truffaut's The 400 Blows for perhaps the fifth time, I finally began to realize its true greatness. Inspired by the director's childhood, The 400 Blows (Truffaut's first film) is primarily about a young boy growing up with his mother and stepfather in Paris and apparently heading into a life of crime. Most adults see the boy as a troublemaker, but in the film, he is meant to be the protagonist.

Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) is the boy's name. He is resourceful, quiet, and does what he can to get by. At home, he has a struggling relationship with his parents, especially his mother. She is a woman of curious interests, always distracted by her incommodious son and a secret affair with a man from her job. Antoine's stepfather appears nice enough while treating his son as an equal in a good manner, although he is not really attached to him. However, both parents share common traits: they are away from home quite a bit and do not pay close enough attention to their son. Sadly enough, they only judge him by his behavior and by reports they get from other people.

At school, Antoine's teacher classifies him as a menacing troublemaker. Not that it is entirely Antoine's fault, he just has terrible luck. In the opening scene of the film, we see a poster with a half-naked woman on the front being passed around quietly by the students. The teacher is sitting at his desk with his head down, grading papers, until the poster comes to Antoine and he finds it. He sends Antoine to the corner of the room, where he writes a note of resentment on the wall. As punishment for that, he is to diagram the exact words that he wrote. At home that night, Antoine's homework is interrupted. Because he did not complete it, his good friend René convinces him to skip school the next day, although Antoine is reluctant at first. They walk around France and notice Antoine's mother kissing a man that is not her husband. She and her son make eye contact, but René assures his friend that everything will be alright. The next morning, as the boys return to school, Antoine lies to his teacher and says the reason he missed school was that his mother died. Everything is alright until his mother, furious, arrives at school and her son is immediately identified as a liar.

And yet, we see Antoine alone at home in some private, subtle, and hopeful moments. One of them being, his love for Balzac. He adores him, and we see him reading his biography and lighting a candle in a shrine in his honor at home. One day, at school, the students are proposed to write an essay on an important event in their life, and Antoine chooses the topic of his grandfather's death, in which he incorporates a phrase from his Balzac book. Alas, the teacher identifies this as plagiarism, and sends Antoine out of the classroom, along with René. The two boys stay at René's house for quite some time, living up to the expectations of a life of crime, until they steal a typewriter leaving Antoine caught trying to return it. He is later sent to a juvenile delinquent detention home.

The 400 Blows is not meant to be a tragedy. Rather, it is a character study following Antoine Doinel's life and decisions he makes as a direct result of the many things going on in it. Even The 400 Blows captures a few moments of happiness joy. One of these is a priceless sequence in which a gym teacher is leading Antoine's class for a jog through Paris, not realizing that the boys are peeling off and running away two by two. There is another scene after Antoine's shrine for Balzac catches on fire and his parents are stressing and yelling at him. His mother suggests an outing to a movie theater, where they end up going. After the film, we see the trio in the car, laughing and reflecting on what they had seen. We see this as a moment of hope for Antoine and his family, for this being the only time they are all happy together.

There are many poignant moments however, emerging late in the film after Antoine is caught for stealing the typewriter. His father is fed up with his behavior and escorts him to a police station where he is sent to a jail cell and later in a police wagon full of prostitutes and thieves, with his face peering through the bars, full of tears. His parents discuss with the authorities that they cannot not take him back because they believe he will only run away again. So, in turn, their son is taken to the juvenile delinquent school. These sequences express a reality of Antoine's life, in tune with the outcome of himself. He remains quiet and reserved towards the end of the film, as if he has nothing to say.

The story of Antoine Doinel and his many experiences allow a life to be filled with curiosity and exploration. Every second of the ninety-nine minutes of the film is not wasted. Truffaut allows every minute to be overflowing with creativity while still maintaining the central story of the protagonist. It is not a film that can be taken lightly as a family movie to be watched every Saturday night. It is a film to be given plenty of thought, carefully examined, and given a conclusion. The genius of the film does not rely on that, moreover, it relies on how much is put into the film. Down to the smallest detail, the film is able to maneuver and progress. The story contains elements of sadness, regret, family, warmth, happiness, humor, values, and choices. Just like life itself.

Great Filmmaking by a Great Filmmaker

[Stroheim-3 · 10/10 · 1 October 1999]

The Four Hundred Blows is the semi-autobiographical story of Antoine Doinel, a boy trapped in a life of contemtptuous authority who turns to outward rebellion. Truffaut shows his mastery of the cinema in this, his freshman attempt.

The film is perfectly cast with Dionel relaying neutral facial expressions for the majority of the film. The boy, although not necessarily evoking sympathy from the audience, definitely evokes empathy. He is a pathetic character forced into his position by his teacher and his almost uncaring mother.

Throughout the film, Truffaut hints at the possibility of a happy life for the protagonist, but just as soon as the ideal is given to us, it is taken away. The mood shifts in the film are fabulously orchestrated through contrasting scenes, music, and even acting. From the opening sequence through the final, enigmatic still shot, the movie is a masterpiece of both French and world cinema. It is a must see.

Perfection

[zetes · 10/10 · 2 April 2001]

I first saw this film around three or four years ago for the first time. I had watched it late at night, and I was very sleepy after it ended. I was rather ambivalent towards it. To tell you the truth, I don't know whether I had even heard of it before I rented it. And I don't even remember if it was my first film by Francois Truffaut, either. I have seen two others, The Green Room, which I didn't like all that much, and Shoot the Piano Player, which I loved. My guess would be that I saw The Green Room first, then looked up what else Francois Truffaut had made, and which ones were considered his better films.

Anyhow, by some route I rented The 400 Blows, and, as I said above, it left me unaffected. I went to bed afterwards without thinking much about it. It was only a couple of months later that I realized how good it was. The memories came flooding back one day when someone mentioned it to me. I have had similar experiences with La Dolce Vita and Casablanca, among others. As I thought more and more about it, I realized just how great it was.

Still, I never went back to it until now. I am strange in that way. There are some movies, some of which aren't even that good, that I will watch over and over again, alone or with friends. There are other films which I know are great, but that I never feel I have time to revisit them (there are always more films to be watched). The 400 Blows is one of those films, unfortunately. I don't know why. I have even considered purchasing it several times. I never did. So when I saw it tonight, it was like seeing something brand new.

I remembered only a few of the most memorable scenes: the carnival ride (followed by Antoine catching his mother with a strange man), the whole Balzac sequence, the psychologist's interview, and, of course, the famous final shot, the freeze-frame of Antoine Doinel looking into the camera. After this time, I will probably remember everything a lot better and a lot longer. The first time, when I was ambivalent, I had time to forget before I finally grabbed hold of those fading memories.

Why is this film special? Because it is the perfect example of childhood caught on film. I don't think there is anyone who could watch it without thinking that it rings true. Every piece of film that deals with a similar subject falls behind this one. The only one that I can think of that comes anywhere near is Federico Fellini's _Amarcord_. Jean Vigo's _Zero for Conduct_ is also very interesting, and probably influenced this film a lot (I know Truffaut was familiar with it, but that may not have been until after this film came out). Antoine Doinel is such an endearing character. I hope that sometime soon I can procure and see his other filmic exploits. And I really need to see more Truffaut in general. I'm far behind with him. Well, The 400 Blows deserves a 10/10, no doubt. It is easily one of the best films ever made, and one of those films that any knowledgable person would include it in a list of films that are absolutely necessary for a student of film.

All you need is love

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 30 September 2015]

The title of the film is The 400 Blows but it is actually an expression for 'Raising Hell.'

Made in 1959 in a cinema verite style. This is the full screen debut of Francois Truffaut and an example of the French New Wave. It was a critical hit.

Jean-Pierre Leaud plays Antoine Doinel, a misunderstood teenager in Paris who constantly gets into trouble at school and an at home. Doinel is based partly on Truffaut himself.

Doinel finds school boring, does not get on with his teachers who usually catch him telling lies including an embarrassing one where in a panic he tells that one of his parent has died.

At home he is alone a lot as both of his parents are working. His glamorous mother (Claire Maurier) seems to have little time for him. He gets on better with his father (Albert Remy) who is more playful but as the film progresses, he is actually the step-father and you also learn that his mother is having an affair.

Doinel wants love but his step- father seems too weak (he suspects his wife is cheating) his mother too busy but he seems happiest when she does give him attention such as towelling him down after a bath.

Doinel and his best friend Rene get into all sorts of scrapes and petty crime. Several times Doinel runs away from home and sleeps rough.

He gets caught stealing a typewriter from his stepfather's workplace and comes into the attention of the police, social services and the judiciary. At the end he is sent to a young offender's institute that he also runs away from and onto a beach to what looks like an uncertain future.

However Truffaut would re-visit Doinel over the course of his directing career.

Watching this film it becomes apparent how much this influenced the British New Wave in the 1960s. So much of this film reminded me of Kes by Ken Loach with its naturalistic acting styles.

Just look at the mischievous scene where the sports teacher takes the class for a walk around the streets of Paris and the kids disappear few at a time. Then there is the very naturalistic scene at the Punch & Judy show where the much younger kids are enjoying themselves.

The city is a playground but when Doinel is living rough it is also oppressive and scary.

Of course as time has gone on the shock value of the out of control adolescent has been lost with newer, more franker films.

The French New Wave also had a different way of telling stories in the cinema that someone like me brought up on a diet of junk Hollywood blockbusters might not always appreciate. The film can be a little too wayward and loose.

However the final freeze frame of a boy fulfilling his dream of seeing the sea but still alone and lost is regarded as a classic. Apparently this is the first time a film ends in a freeze frame.

An intense emotional journey of one boy's early life

[ppw3o6r · 10/10 · 25 April 2006]

This film is one of the greatest I have ever seen. It depicts some events in the life of Antoine Doinel, a young French boy who gets into a lot of trouble no matter what he does. This was the first film by Francois Truffaut, and I believe that it is filmed with such an innocence that you can really feel some of the emotions that Antoine feels. I love the simple style of this film, and I think it adds to its charm. The story is can even be painful to watch as one sees all of the things that happen to Antoine. I think that the reason for the strong emotions embedded in this film is that it is semi-autobiographical. I think the cinema is what rescued Truffaut from a life like his protagonist.In short, an inspiration to all filmmakers-they DEFINITELY don't make them like this anymore!

Well made but the story just didn't grab me

[sme_no_densetsu · 7/10 · 24 July 2011]

François Truffaut's "The 400 Blows" is routinely listed as one of the greatest films in all of foreign cinema. At the time of its release it was hailed as an important film and subsequently proved to be immensely influential in the context of the French New Wave.

The semi-autobiographical story concerns a Parisian adolescent (Jean-Pierre Léaud) who attempts to escape problems at home and at school by delving into a life of petty crime. Unfortunately, he never receives more than a temporary respite from his predicament and frequently ends up deeper in trouble. The script is fairly loose and strives for realism above all else.

Enforcing Truffaut's aim of realism is the group of actors that he assembled. Léaud indisputably carries the film, at once delivering an authentic performance while also showing a maturity beyond his years. While not quite as impressive, the supporting cast is nevertheless uniformly solid, perhaps none moreso than Guy Decomble as Antoine's antagonist at school.

Truffaut's direction is exceedingly well-handled, not to mention impressive for a debut feature. The film also sports attractive cinematography and a lively score by Jean Constantin.

Indeed, the film can scarcely be faulted for any flaw in its construction or execution. Instead, my tempered enthusiasm is the result of feeling a certain amount of detachment from the main character. Naturally, this sort of objection is largely personal so your mileage may vary.

pure poetry

[CUDIU · 10/10 · 22 February 2005]

No doubt, this is a masterpiece. There are at least two unforgettable sequences in this movie. The first is the puppet show, with those children's faces looking at the stage, quite out of anything that can be expressed by words... being so childish and perfectly baby-like, but at the same time so desperately resembling to the faces of us, adult spectators of movies and life. A second, extraordinary moment is the final encounter of the boy Doinel with the ocean, at the end of the movie. Out of the school-jail where they have sent him, he runs through the French countryside until he finds this long beach. When he finally reaches the water, he gives that sudden and unexpected look into the camera... that is when the movie ends, and we can't help being pervaded by a full, cosmic empathy with Antoine Doinel. Thank you Mr Truffaut.

Living a wild life

[dbdumonteil · 4/10 · 5 August 2001]

This film aka "the four hundred blows" is a mistranslation.Faire les 400 coups" means"to live a wild life. As a French,I'm stunned when I see the popularity of this good ,but by no means outstanding film. 1.It's not the first film of the "nouvelle vague" move;check Agnes Varda's "la pointe courte",(1956)Alain Resnais's "Hiroshima mon amour"(1958),Claude Chabrol's "le beau serge"(1958) are anterior .Historically,"les 400 coups " comes after. 2.The "nouvelle vague" was sometimes ponderous and hard on their predecessors:Overnight,Julien Duvivier,Henri-George Clouzot,Claude Autant-Lara ,Yves allégret and a lot of others were doomed to oblivion.THis selfishness and this contempt is typically "nouvelle vague".You 've never heard (or read) the great generation of the thirties (Renoir,Carné,Grémillon,Duvivier already,Feyder) laugh at ,say,Maurice Tourneur or Max Linder.So,thanks to Truffaut and co,some people will never discover some gems of the French fifties or forties(Duvuvier's "sous le ciel de Paris",Autant-Lara's "douce",Yves Allégret's "une si jolie petite plage " and "manèges").THe novelle vague clique went as far as saying that William Wyler,Georges Stevens and Fred Zinemann were worthless! 3."Les 400 coups " is technically rather disappointing:it's very academic ,the story is as linear as it can be,the teachers are caricatures,and the mother Claire Maurier delivers such memorable lines as (you've got to be a French circa 1960 to understand how ridiculous it is): Well ,your father 's got only his brevet (junior school diploma)and,as for me ,I've got only my high school diploma!You've got to know,that circa 1960,hardly 10%of the pupils had the HSD in France! Antoine Doinel should have been proud of his mother after all!She wants him to have diplomas,who can blame her? 4.Compared to the innovations of "Hiroshima mon amour",which features a brand new form,and a new "fragmented " content,"les 400 coups " pales into significance.Truffaut will master a new form only with the highly superior "Jules and Jim", helped by the incomparable Jeanne Moreau. 5.The interpretation is rather stiff;Jean-Pierre Léaud ,arguably listenable when dubbed in English ,is still decent,but he will soon degenerate into the most affected of his generation. 6.The topic=stolen childhood had better days,before (Julien Duvivier's "Poil de carotte" ,Luis Bunuel's "los olvidados") and will have after (Maurice Pialat's "l'enfance nue",Kenneth Loach's "Kes") I do not want to demean Truffaut,his movie is not bad,but,frankly,French movie buffs,prefer "Jules and Jim" "l'enfant sauvage" (a film honest ,true and commercially uncompromizing to a fault)"l'argent de poche"(as academic as "400 coups" but much more funny)or his nice Hitchcock pastiche "vivement dimanche".

Truffaut's powerful and moving look at adolescence

[Camera-Obscura · 18 November 2006]

THE FOUR HUNDRED BLOWS (François Truffaut - France 1959).

Twelve-year-old Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) has troubles at home and at school. Ignored and neglected by his parents, his relationship with his mother is further strained when he discovers that she has taken a secret lover. Added to this, his school teachers have written him off as a trouble maker and, with luck seemingly never on his side, it is Antoine who ends up getting the blame for bad behaviour. Finding refuge only in his love of cinema, Antoine soon finds it necessary to break free and discover what the world can offer outside the confines of everyday life.

I have always struggled with the labeling of this film as one of the pivotal entrances in the "Nouvelle Vague". Since Jean-Luc Godard's "Au Bout de Soufflé", who uses a completely different approach to film-making, with his restless jump-cutting and endless references to pop culture, Truffaut presents his case clear cut, as realistic as possible. But this was something completely different from the way American films portrayed juvenile delinquency so far. No iconic trouble makers like James Dean or Marlon Brando, just a realistic portrait of a twelve-year old boy sliding into isolation. The very idea alone was something novel, seldom depicted in a way like this.

Much of the praise must go to Jean-Pierre Léaud, who never even seems to be acting. His every movement, thought, expression come across as completely natural. Truly, one of the most remarkable performances of such a young actor I've ever seen. Watching this over 40 years after it was made, it all looks deceptively simple, with Truffaut's perfect integration of music and image, location shooting on the streets of Paris and the naturalistic performances. Truffaut used many innovations but they are not easily noticeable as in Godard's work. This was for instance the first French film to be shot in widescreen (aspect ratio 2.35:1), which required much planning on Truffaut's part, with some surprising results. In many scenes we don't see the other person Antoine is talking to, which gives the viewer the illusion as if Antoine is almost talking directly to the camera. Jean-Pierre Léaud would continue his role as Antoine in four more films by Truffaut, "Love at Twenty" (1962), "Stolen Kisses" (1968), "Bed and Board" (1970) and "Love on the Run" (1979).

Camera Obscura --- 9/10

Realism in its starkest and lucid form...

[yekum · 10/10 · 3 August 1999]

In this monumental work, one central motif deeply influenced all other notable proclivities: realism. A documentary-like work otherwise, this movie does what I most admire about movies: immerse us with different lives, times, and places. So, first, this quality in the '400 blows' predominates and accentuates the rest of the movie to germane sensitivity; from there the plot takes over and we delve into the lives of a small middle-class family, and the main character among the three family members--the boy. Indeed, the astute social critique leaves the viewer with long lasting impressions. But the boy's plight will ever remain the single most potent symbol in my memory of the vindication, liberty, freedom, and inevitable alienation humans undergo in their lives. Definitely a movie I would like to see again and again, if not to enjoy the beauty of the filming, but at least to remind myself the predicament of life.

We need films like this today. Desperately. (possible spoilers)

[the red duchess · 10/10 · 19 July 2001]

'The 400 blows' immediately introduces its hero in a breathless credit sequence: I mean the Eiffel Tower, glimpsed from different angles as the camera drives through the streets of Paris, emerging from behind buildings, through trees, opening onto avenues. It is a magnet - wherever you go you move towards it - and a totem.

This sequence is transposed later, when Antoine goes to the funfair, and rides on one of those moving cylinders, like a zoetrope. The comparison is deliberate - Truffaut is situating his film in film history, declaring his intention to start again, to get back to first principles, to a time when moving pictures was a medium of possibility, before it was bogged down by genre and the studio system. this zoetrope has a transformative power - it takes a character from neo-realism and abstracts him, turning him into a figure in a Grand Guignol, crawling in eternal circles. But, from his point of view, it completely transforms the outside world, from a thing of oppressive solidity content to stare in powerful distance, to a formless, unstable mass.

This sequence crystallises the power of Truffaut's film, its freedom and its concern with entrapment. It charts the decline into imprisonment of its main character with a style of buoyant liberation. So while Antoine is trapped in this barrel, he is also offered a new way of looking beyond those merely content to look on from the outside.

'The 400 Blows' is the first masterpiece of the nouvelle vague, that iconoclastic movement that briefly saved cinema from stagnation as an art-form, just as it declared that it was an art-form (hmm, a connection?). It's a cliche now that Truffaut was the least innovative of the New Wavers, and yet it's still surprising that a film built so classically (moving from Paris to the countryside; balancing the opening school scene, with its barred doors, with the closing borstal scene etc.) still achieves that tingling spontaneity so rare in the cinema (e.g. Jean-Pierre Leaud as an actor laughing with the crew as Albert Remy breaks an egg). The first viewing of '400' is such a rush you'd be forgiven for thinking that it, like 'A Bout de souffle', was made up on the spot, and it is only on subsequent viewings that you marvel at Truffaut's formal control, the rhythm of his camera movements and editing, the consideration of his compositions.

That image of spinning round a fixed pole is the one that haunts me. Just as the decline of Michel Poiccard in the Truffaut-scripted 'A Bout de souffle' is figured as a car running out of steam, so Antoine is forever running in circles, brought back to a fixed point, having gotten nowhere. To move is to live - that is why the final freeze-frame is so frightening: Antoine has usurped the Eiffel Tower, has become the centre of the spinning top - he dominates the closing frame, just as the opening ones were empty (of humans). But at what cost? - has he simply wound down into inertia?: the subsequent Doinel films would suggest so. (that closing beach scene, in which Antoine seems to be running against moving, phosphorescent sand, also alludes to another great work about a young artist and his city, Joyce's 'Ulysses' and its chapter 'Proteus')

Although the film rarely shoots directly from his point of view, the style is an exuberant expression of Antoine's sensibility. Antoine is ambisexual, still seeking his identity, just before seeking sexuality - early on he sits at his mother's dressing table, his face splintered by the triptych mirrors; later he steals supplies from the ladies' toilet. This embodying of subjectivity in objective style is what saves the closing third from de Sica-like sentimentality and manipulation: we are rarely outside Antoine's head, people are wonderful or horrible as he experiences them. Only twice is his sensibility intruded on - when he is caught bringing back the typewriter, the captor creeping his point of view; and the interview with the faceless psychologist at the borstal, filmed as if behind a double-sided mirror, the feral animal penned at last.

'The 400 blows' is revered as a moving, melancholy picture of misdirected adolescence. It is sometimes forgotten that most of the film is pure comedy, delighting in gags, digressions, bits of business. For much of the running time, you envy Antoine - what joy it must be to be young and in Paris, swashbuckling in the schoolyard, truanting in the city, smoking cigars: his family situation is no worse that most, at least he has friends, a roof over his head, and can read Balzac. Antoine is a bit of a clown: all clowns eventually settle down, make the right choices at crucial moments in their lives. Antoine somehow misses those rarely visible choices and finds himself locked up, descending the various levels of institutional hell. His often amiable and/or witty parents are no more evil than he is a saint, although an educational system that asks kids to simply copy down 'great' poems (a Sisyphean task in one ink-blotted case) is clearly wrong. Georges Delerue's score - romantic, exuberant, tragic, bittersweet - ranks with the three greats ('Vertigo', 'Taxi Driver', 'The Umbrellas of Cherbourg').

Triumph and tragedy.

[Barry2 · 10/10 · 3 July 2004]

For the first time I saw the 400 blows in 1960. I got then a very strong impression. Then, there was interval of more than 40 years, during which I never watched it, though not forgot. Recently I bought DVD and saw it again. I got the same huge impression. But now I have understood the cause of it. It is not only the greatness of Truffaut, excellent photography of Anri Decaee, charming musical score of Jean Constantine, performance of wonderful children Jean-Pierre Leaud and Patrick Auffray. All these were not enough. But, in addition to these qualities of the movie, I had a strong feeling of identification with Antoine, and that identification had come because many facts and events of my childhood were coinciding with what had happened with him. Even surroundings of my childhood was almost the same - not in Paris, but in one of the greatest capital cities. I think many people on whom the film made so strong impression had that sense of identification.

The tragedy of J.P. Leaud is that he came to perfection TOO EARLY, at his teens. But one who had come to perfection stops his development. In other movies of the A.D. circle (Stolen Kisses and so on), he is, IMHO, incomparably weaker than in the first film. So, the endearing boy - Antoine Doinel of the 400 blows - became for J.P. Leaud a kind of a monster, with whom he had to contend all his life, and whom he could never overtake, not mention to leave behind. Genius in his childhood, he lowered to just a good (sometimes not so good) actor in his adulthood. A learned artistic craft of his later films could never substitute the freshness and vitality of the 400 blows.

Truffaut's Bulls-eye

[raaesquire · 10/10 · 29 October 2006]

The 400 Blows is a film that every teenager must see. When I was 14 (Antonie's age in the film I suppose), I hated everything. I hated school, I hated living with my parents, and I didn't want to be subordinate to society on the whole. To put it simply, I wanted to just get out there and live my life instead of being picked on by school teachers and essentially be an outcast amongst my peers, who were spoiled rich white males thinking with their you know whats instead of their brains. Antonie Doinel is a character who used his mind and what did he get? He was sent to reform school. He possesses the traits of every average adolescent male. He wants to expand his mind (he reads Balzac), doesn't do his work, riles up the teacher, doesn't really get along with his parents (although his father seems to have more vested interest in the boy), defaces classroom walls, and looks at and defaces pinups. Quite simply, his character is one of the most complex to ever be created.

In short, The 400 Blows is about an unwanted teenaged boy who submits to the world of petty crime when the rest of the world has turned his back on him. There's an interesting line that Antoine's father says to him at the beginning of the film. The boy is running back from the grocery store with flour for his mother and he runs into his dad coming home from work. "Always running son, eh?" And that's what we see for the full 99 minutes of The 400 Blows. Sure, Antoine is actually running (especially at the emotional climax) but he's psychologically running away from the very people holding him back from breaking out in the world, be it his parents, the authorities, and so forth. There is so much other things that we see that cannot be fit into this review. Antoine and his friend Rene skip school one day and go around town. Antoine goes into a gravitron, which is an amusement park ride that spins around in circles. And that's what his life is doing: he may enjoy the ride for the time being, but he's ending up where he started from.

The film is not without humor, though. One cannot help but laugh when Antoine tells his teacher after skipping class that his mother died. "Personal preference obviously," his father says in response to the mother venting about such news. Also, Antoine's letter to his parents explaining why he ran away sounds like an adult wrote it, but there is some humor to it. "We'll discuss all that's happened" it says. Even Antoine getting expelled from school after plagiarizing Balzac is pretty humorous and he decides not to go home and live with Rene. They end up stealing little things such as posters, clocks, and they go to the movies. However, when he pinches a typewriter from his father's office, that's the end of his little rebellion. He is sent to a correctional facility (and this is an emotional scene, as the boy is placed in a police wagon and cries as he takes a look of the streets of Paris at night). Perhaps the most emotional scenes take place in the final portion of the film. Antoine is placed under psychiatric evaluation, where he reveals he was born out of wedlock and his mother wanted an abortion (this is hinted at in the beginning when he runs in on a conversation between two old ladies talking about forceps and a Cesarean section...perhaps they were indeed talking about an abortion procedure. Antoine feels uncomfortable around this conversation and we can see it). He can't see Rene when he visits, and his mother tells him he's on his own (although I wished Antoine would've told her "I hate you").

After briefly listening to a young delinquent who was caught trying to escape, Antoine decides to do so and bolts during a soccer game. We just see Antoine running, and running, and running. There's no music at first until he gets to the ocean. Truffaut pulls the cameras back and we see an endless horizon, endless opportunities for our young protagonist. The musical score plays and this is where I continue to get misty eyed with every viewing. Antoine, who has never seen the ocean, runs within the current, but has nowhere to go. The film ends in the famous freeze frame with a closeup of the boy's face. Either he's been caught, doesn't know what to do, or this mimics the mugshot sequence that we saw before he went into the correctional facility. The ending leaves a lot to the imagination, but there's one thing that cannot be imagined: The 400 Blows is easily the most touching film I've ever seen. I don't think I'll see another one quite like this.

Everything seems to lock into place here. The acting superbly executes brilliant dialogue. Truffaut has some innovative camera movements (the darkening of the corridor while Antoine takes out the garbage and the final shot are examples of this) throughout. The musical score is beautiful. And, France isn't portrayed as this very romantic country. No, it is dark, it is gloomy. This is the dark side of this very storied nation. Here, Francois Truffaut tells his story to the viewer. When I first bought 400 Blows, I didn't know what to expect. I figured I'd pick it up because 46 years after its initial release there was still a lot of critical buzz around it. I'm glad I spent the 30 dollars on this film, easily my favorite of all time next to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I only have one complaint: I wish I'd have seen The 400 Blows when I was 14. It probably would have saved my life more than the music I was listening to.

Not a timeless classic as hyped but still good....

[SumanShakya · 7/10 · 16 November 2020]

Watching "The Bicycle Thieves" earlier this year, the same expectation was made through this French classic as both had child artists in its center and both explored Europe in the post War era. "The 400 Blows" is on disturbed childhood which resorts to petty crimes following the indifference from the parents. It delves into child psychology and remains engaging for most of the time. It is highly structured in its narration with a nice flow maintained aside a beautiful portrayal of Paris streets it captures.

But overall it has its disappointments which gives reservations to place it in the position of "The Bicycle Thieves." First of all the film ends inconclusive. It raises some issues on childhood problems concerning the schools and families, which isn't resolved. The problems raised feel single dimensional and on its way fails to make a compelling watch though technically it feels flawless along few endearing performances to admire.

Rating: 2 stars out of 4

I'll never forget this film. Still amazing!

[throb-5 · 10/10 · 12 February 1999]

This is one of the best films I have ever seen about children. It's not sentimental, but by the time it's over I really wish I could hug this kid. This is one of the most rewarding and perfect films I have seen period. The child protagonist is so likable and misunderstood, it's heartbreaking to see him get deeper and deeper into trouble. While watching this film I never felt like I was being manipulated or preached to in any way. What an accomplishment! The final images are so sad and beautiful. See it!

Good movie, but hardly brilliant or a classic

[grantss · 7/10 · 7 October 2015]

Good movie, but hardly brilliant or a classic.

A boy, Antoine Doinel, is often in trouble at school and doesn't get along with his parents, especially his mother. He briefly runs away from home but then returns (or is returned...). After a while he ups the ante and turns to petty crime...

Interesting drama. It also has its lighter side. There are many moments of comedy - the scene with the gym teacher taking the class for a walk was priceless!

However, hardly the classic this is made out to be. Directed by Francois Truffaut, this is regarded as being the vanguard of the French New Wave movement. But it really isn't THAT good. It is hardly profound - the plot is a few weeks/months in the life of a early/mid-teens boy. There is no big realisation at the end, or plot closure.

Even as a character-based film it is not fantastic. Yes, you feel some empathy for and engagement towards the boy but he is more villain than hero. (The adults are hardly saints either, I might add).

Worth watching though, as it is a reasonable story, and to see what all the fuss is about...

If you want to know what freedom is, see this movie!

[nevins-1 · 10/10 · 30 October 2005]

I understand this is an art film. If you are not into art films, than perhaps this film is not for you. If you have an inclination for the sublime, than by all means, SEE THIS MOVIE!

IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THIS MOVIE, DO NOT READ THIS COMMENT!!! GO OUT RIGHT NOW AND RENT THIS FILM, OR BETTER YET, FIND A SHOWING AT A LOCAL ARTS THEATER AND GO SEE IT ON THE BIG SCREEN! THIS MOVIE IS A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE THAT MUST BE SEEN! IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET, I INSIST, STOP READING NOW! IF YOU CONTINUE READING, AND THEN GO SEE THIS MOVIE, IT WILL BE LIKE SEEING CITIZEN KANE AND KNOWING WHAT "ROSEBUD" MEANS ALREADY! GOT IT?!

It's a slow wind up, but the last scene of this movie makes it all worthwhile. If someone asked me what is a truly great movie, I would name this film without hesitation. It's a pity that many Americans have an aversion to foreign films. It's a pity that more people have not seen this masterpiece. The depth of emotion conveyed in the final moments of this film must be seen to be believed. I only wish that more filmmakers managed to convey the intensity of that one moment as the boy stands on the beach and sees the ocean for the first time. The contrast between that one moment and all of his previous existence, sad and oppressive as it is, completely overwhelms me.

Wild Child

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 14 October 2010]

Francois Truffaut's first feature, and like many first features it's semi-autobiographical. Well, there's nothing wrong with that. As Joyce advised, "Wipe your glosses with what you know." There are only two cautions to be observed. One is that your first story, about yourself, doesn't turn you into a moral paragon. The second is that, having gotten that initial material out of your system, you have the industry and talent to go on to other things -- not necessarily less personal, but less heavily invested. Truffaut managed to rise well above his beginnings.

Jean-Pierre Leaud is the boy of about twelve who lives in a shabby and cramped apartment in Paris with a mother who, though she sometimes tries her best to act otherwise, doesn't really want him and never has. Leaud's father doesn't mind the kid, but things are tough. Both parents work. The mother is being unfaithful and the father is distant.

So Leaud begins to get into trouble at school. (And what a run-down, working-class school it is.) He writes graffiti, gets caught, gets punished, but seems to learn nothing from it, nor from forging a note excusing his absence by claiming that his mother has died. He winds up running away from home, stealing a typewriter, getting caught, and sent to an "observation camp" where he's subject to tough love and interviews by a social worker. He runs away from the camp too and the last scene is of Leaud chugging along a wide strand, splashing through the tiny waves of icy sea water.

Truffaut doesn't give Leaud easy excuses. He's gone through tribulations, certainly, but so have many of the other kids in his class. And at least Leaud wasn't sexually abused as a child -- the kiss of death in movies these days. But his story isn't one of a born delinquent either. He takes no pleasure in destroying things or in hurting or disappointing others. He exploits nobody.

And the parents themselves aren't evil or weak. Their foibles are recognizably human. His parents only rarely indulge him but they never beat him. The boy may live in a bare apartment with cracked walls and not enough furniture or heat, but so do his mother and father, so they're subject to the same physical stressors.

In fact, there's nobody in the whole movie who is entirely evil or entirely good, despite the fact that the film is in black and white.

There is a vein of comedy in it too. Their language teacher is trying to get them to pronounce English correctly. "Where is the girl?", he asks one student in clear and precise tones. "At the bitch," replies the student, and the teacher explodes in a volcano of insults in French -- and he stutters! Overall, what you're most likely to get out of this film is a sense of Truffaut's abiding pity for the human condition. Take the Punch and Judy show that we see a couple of dozen young kids watching. The camera pans slowly across their faces, and we see them laughing and yelling -- and we see their misshapen heads, their diminutive chins, their crossed eyes, and those ears that kids of that age tend to have, like African elephants sticking out from their skulls, all ready to flap with excitement. You have to love kids to love that kind of ugliness.

The style is grainy and documentary with only occasional touches of art that are noticeable enough to call attention to themselves. Two kids sit on a bench in a wintry garden and talk about their hated parents while the camera deliberately lifts itself to a syrupy statue above them in which a loving mother is kissing a cherub.

And that last shot -- a freeze frame of Leaud on the beach at the end of his tether, unable to go forward into the sea, unable to retreat to the camp he's just escaped from. The image is still and Leaud is captured staring into the camera lens, waiting, as it were, for the audience to judge him. We, the jury.

Truffaut was one of the New Wave of French directors, most of them formerly critics for a French magazine. (They gave us the term "film noir.") Jean-Luc Goddard was another. But I think Truffaut leaves Goddard in the dust. Goddard is far more fashionable because of his on-screen pyrotechnics. He up-ended the grammar of film, as if to say, "Look at me, Ma!" What he did to editing alone was what Sinead O'Connor did to the Pope's photo. And he was political in the right way for the time. But he lacks Truffaut's essential humanity or, let's be honest, his humility. Maybe it's just me but compassion seems a more evolved emotion than aggression. I wonder if Truffaut ever read Rousseau.

The Classics We Hold

[bsales-1 · 2/10 · 25 January 2007]

I know, I know...everybody's a critic. But if everyone else can add their 2 cents, here's my three...I find it ridiculous that we hold these movies as such classics, that aren't really as brilliant as we claim. Don't get me wrong, I actually loved the movie as a story, it was a real slice of life and as I writer...to keep an audience tuned in for the entire movie without actually having a "story" other than a kid being a hard head...you have done your job well as a film maker...but I give it a 2 because it is held at such high regard, then you go and see it and it's just another movie that could easily be forgotten about in a couple of years, if people didn't boast about how great it was. I think we need to reconsider "What a classic really is." And stop falling in with the crowd because it's enjoyed by the masses and a good print is still available to be restored.

Thank You

A magnificent tale about childhood and the quest for liberty, masterfully shot

[miguel_marques · 15 December 2000]

Les quatre-cents coups is the film that opens up the New Wave movement. I think many of the characteristics of the New Wave -as pointed out in class- can be inferred form the differences between the last film we saw in class, Carné's Les enfants du paradis, and this work by Truffaut: real life situations, no sets, everyday people. I have found in Les quatre-cents coups a brand new, refreshing and overwhelming cinema. But Les quatre-cents coups is also a dense, complicated film. Its autobiographical character makes it an encyclopedia of personal feelings, opinions and nuances of an introspection by Truffaut.

Technically, the main differences between Truffaut and the previous cinema is the use of camera movements and angles. Although Renoir had made a witty and fresh use of traveling and long takes, Truffaut masters this technique as anyone else does. The camera moves smoothly, it nearly swings or floats from angle to angle following an action, as if the spectator was a ghost amid real life. Truffaut enjoys playing around with the camera: extremely long takes as we have never seen in any of the previous films: some of them in the classroom, other in Antoine's friend house, or a magnificent take at the end of the film in which we see Antoine, then a panoramic view and then Antoine again, running towards the sea. He also shoots from impossible angles, like those at the beginning from below the Tour Eiffel, or the nearly zenithal take following the jogging students in the streets. Or he teases us with the fake black out, when Antoine goes down the stairs to throw away garbage. Or shows us inner feelings through close-ups: the scene in which Antoine lies to his father telling him he did not take his map.

However, I think that the most important difference between previous films and this one is the treatment of action. Truffaut is an observer, a photographer of soul. He takes a fiendish delight in shooting casual, long scenes: the boy tearing away his notebook pages; the whole sequence of Antoine's arrival at his empty home is excellent: the three reflexes in his mother's mirror -in which she will look afterwards, or Antoine combing his hair, laying the table. Also the spinning ride, or the long traveling following the escape of Antoine. They are long, but not slow. They keep tension up, as if everyday acts and decisions could be heroic and transmit the greatest interest and attraction. It looks like a documentary on human life! Some comments could be made about Antoine Doinel, alter ego of Truffaut. He is a very complicated character. The most curious thing about him is that he behaves like an adult: he acts, walks and talks like a man -especially if we compare him to his teachers or his father! However, at some times I think Truffaut describes himself as being not too witty: remember the candle in the hole on the wall, or how his friend convinces him to steal the typewriter and then makes him give it back, or how he innocently copies a whole paragraph from Balzac. He wants to be an artist, but he is not -not yet. This lack of wit and fatality -he is caught but everyone around him cheats as he does- leads him to a rebellion that grows stronger and stronger. This explain why he is such a rebel and not his friend, or the other children in the class, who live in the same social group.

The main topic in Les quatre-cents coups is the quest for freedom, but not in the way Renoir looked at it, in fact is closer to L'Atalante by Vigo than to Renoir's La grande illusion, for example. Renoir is more concerned by social struggle and the liberty of the people. But Truffaut is more introspective, more intimate: indeed this film is the description of life attitude of an independent spirit through the autobiographical look of the author -this is cinéma d'auteur. We can find many elements from Truffaut's life in the film: a difficult family situation, problems at school, the Army, etc. These elements will appear throughout the film. Antoine, alter ego of Truffaut lives in the school, in his house, in the streets and finally in the juvenile detention center. In each one of these places he will find adverse situations he will have to overcome.

The school The school is the first oppressing environment for Antoine. At the very beginning he is caught, by chance, with a pin-up calendar. This fatality will be recalled in Antoine's life later or -when he is caught by the porter giving the typewriter back, having been his friend's idea to steal it. He is a rebel, and nothing will refrain him from being so. He is punished, and he misbehaves again, writing in the wall an inspired poem. The school is the only place in which Truffaut makes a little bit of criticism, in this case against the education system: the three teachers are either cruel (the French teacher) or stupid (the English and Physical Education teachers).

The house The house situation might be similar to that lived by Truffaut in real life. Her mother, a beautiful, egocentric and unscrupulous woman -sometimes sad, and old looking- who hates him. At the end of the film we discover that she did not want that child. This hatred and the attitude of his father -a smiley and cheerful but weak man- will add to the necessity of Antoine to flee. Truffaut gives us a Freudian wink: when his teacher asks him why he missed school, Antoine will sharply answer: 'My mom died!'

The streets In the streets Antoine will find freedom, challenge, adulthood but also perversion: he becomes a man in a 13-year old boy body, little by little. But he will also become a criminal; together with his friend they will climb up in the scale of crime. He first skips classes. He and his friend stroll around the city, innocently. Then they begin an adult, abnormally rebel behavior: they make cars stop in the middle of the street, for example. The spinning ride is one of the few symbolic images in the film -that is another difference with Vigo and Renoir filmmaking. The scene of Antoine trying without success to fight against centrifuge force in a mad spinning trip really shocked me: he fights against reality and he is suffering, but he also has fun in it. Afterwards, he leaves home. . He will learn about solitude and indeed not a single word is heard in a long sequence. I really enjoyed the long, silent scene of the milk robbery. Antoine runs outlaw like an animal, we can feel loneliness, cold, hunger, sleepiness. It is another of those long, slow but at the same time agile scenes about casual acts: drinking a bottle of milk. At the end, the streets will make him a criminal. From the moment he is caught on, he is not treated as a child anymore. He wants to be an adult, and a spell will sort of be cast on him: he will be treated as such. It is significant when he is caught by the porter. He is told not to take off the hat, which made him look like an adult. From then on, he is treated roughly as if he was a man, especially in the police station.

The prison And finally he arrives at the prison, which I think is the climax of oppression -we must remember the comparisons to the Army Truffaut detests. It is maybe the simplest of the scenarios, he find himself facing what he hates with no other possibility. The ending is a sublime anticlimax. After being punished for eating the bread, Antoine goes on 'normal' life within the detention center: he visits the psychologist -an ultimate introspection by Truffaut-, receives his mother and talk to his new friends and plays soccer. And suddenly, when we least expect it, he flees. He runs, runs, runs, the longest run I have ever seen, and the most exciting. He reaches the sea: his dream, and a symbol for eternity and absolute in poetry. He splashes into the water, he stops and looks back; the first time he looks right into the camera. This has got undoubtedly a deep and very personal meaning that maybe only the author knows. It is a pessimistic or an optimistic ending? I think it is above all an out-of-this-world ending. If the simple presence of the sea, Antoine's object of liberty, is overwhelming for the spectator, how should the character feel? I really liked the final traveling: we follow Antoine's run over the sand, but the camera is facing the inland, we are waiting to see the sea as much as Antoine is waiting to wet his feet. I do not really think that he is deceived, although his look into the camera is ambiguous. I think he stares at the spectator because he has realized what the truth is: the character is now out of the film. And the truth for him, I think, is this: I can reach freedom whenever I want, but absolute freedom is impossible to achieve. He is staring at us, but he is also looking back with a grave look: he might have seen his pursuer in the distance.