Henri Decae’s black and white photography helped Truffaut enormously but what the director himself provides is a sense that though there is no easy answer to the problems of growing up, there is a hope that will never be wholly denied.
The 400 Blows (1959)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:48
Fresh:48
Rotten:0
Average Rating:9.3/10
Consensus: A seminal French New Wave film that offers an honest, sympathetic, and wholly heartbreaking observation of adolescence without trite nostalgia.
Theatrical Release:10-04-2009
Synopsis: Director François Truffaut's first feature film, THE 400 BLOWS, is a landmark in French cinema. Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) is a 13-year-old boy who can't seem to do anything right. His... Director François Truffaut's first feature film, THE 400 BLOWS, is a landmark in French cinema. Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) is a 13-year-old boy who can't seem to do anything right. His parents yell at him and then bribe him for his love and his promises to work harder in school. Meanwhile, his schoolteacher is out to get him and blames Antoine for everything--turning him into the class clown. As a result, Antoine runs away from school and his difficult family, living on the streets of Paris and committing petty crimes. While his life on the street is tough, it's much better than dealing with his preoccupied parents and his accusatory teacher. Nonetheless, things only go downhill for Antoine, descending to a simultaneously painful and beautiful conclusion. A truly impressive film, THE 400 BLOWS is raw, honest, and intensely emotional. Imbued with a strong and complex personality, Antoine maintains his poise and self-confidence, even as he endures abusive treatment from every adult he encounters. René Simonet (Patrick Auffray) is Antoine's one pal, and the unspoken dialogues between the boys, depicted by Truffaut through the boys' facial expressions and with masterful roving photography, allow the viewer to see through Antoine's eyes and understand his unflinching tenacity. Few films have captured the difficulties of childhood as well as this acclaimed French masterpiece. Essentially the start of the French New Wave movement, THE 400 BLOWS is also the beginning of Truffaut's Antoine Doinel cycle, which follows Léaud as Antoine in five additional films over the course of 20 years. [More]
Starring: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Rémy, Guy Decomble
Starring: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Rémy, Guy Decomble, Patrick Auffray
Director: Francois Truffaut
Director: Francois Truffaut
Reviews for The 400 Blows
It's a cornerstone of the French New Wave, and one of the greatest movies about childhood, from anywhere, ever.
François Truffaut's iconoclastic feature debut and one of the most enduring examples of the French New Wave.
It's streetwise stuff, shot in a vigorous on-the-hoof style, but also full of joy, both in its blissfully comic moments and in Doinel's telling passion for moviegoing.
What is there to say about The 400 Blows that hasn't already been said?
Distinguished by its naturalistic, quasi-documentary approach and an extraordinary central performance from the 12-year-old Jean-Pierre Léaud, this is a blisteringly authentic story.
Forget my curmudgeonly attitude and see it -- again, or for the first time -- for yourself.
Amazingly, this vigorous effort is the first feature film of M. Truffaut, who had previously been (of all things!) the movie critic for a French magazine.
Francois Truffaut's debut film not only galvanized the Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) movement of French cinema, but also generated a personal language of cinema that Truffaut would elaborate on for the rest of his career.
Distinguished by its intensity of feeling and freewheeling use of the wide-screen frame, the film ranks among Truffaut's best.
A movingly sympathetic and perceptive portrayal about an unwanted rebellious adolescent.
Truffaut's brilliant debut, one of the seminal works of the New Wave, is a captivating autobiographical chronicle of a troubled youth, played by Jean-Pierre Leaud, Truffaut's alter-ego who will star in four more segments of the Antoine Doinel's saga.
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