The 400 Blows Review

Languages are barriers throughout most worlds, including the cinematic one. I’ve never been a big fan of foreign films, and it doesn’t help that I have no idea what the heck the actors are saying. Of course, there are some languages that I happen to understand, but unfortunately, French, is no such language. Yet I found The 400 Blows to be quite refreshing compared to the other foreign films I’ve watched. It was humorous in an almost disturbing way, mocking yet insightful. I won’t deny that it was just plain wacky and awkward at times, but I found it to be a film that people can sympathize and relate to. François Truffaut’s style of directing is unique and hard to find within the mainstream blockbuster films commonly shown in the United States, which makes this film different and, in my opinion, quite a cinematic treat.

Told through the eyes of a third person observing, we are introduced to Antoine Doinel and his pathetic existence. Antoine is a simple French boy living in the city of Paris with his mother and step-father. He goes to school, does chores, and often wanders the city streets with his best friend René. Our story begins in a classroom with Antoine in trouble with the stereotypical mean teacher. From there, the snowball continues to roll and Antoine’s troubles not only increase, but gradually grow in size. After his disastrous day in school, Antoine and René decide to be truants and take to the wonderful city of Paris. It seems that only in those moments when Antoine is free, out on the city streets, that he is truly happy. At home, he is suppressed by his parents and their inconsistent techniques. They punish him, they praise him, they bribe him, and they ignore him. It’s clear that Antoine isn’t wanted at home and the longer he stays, the more neglected he feels. Not only is there conflict occurring between Antoine and his parents, but his mom and step-father are constantly yelling, the only constant thing in his household. Money is always an issue, but when Antoine catches his mother cheating on his step-father, it’s evident that there is more than money tearing his family apart. Antoine’s mother is a tawdry person who seems to care more about appearances than anything else. Meanwhile, his step-father is just trying to get by, but can be very irrational. At first, it seems that his step-father is the kind one, while his mother is an angry cumulous nimbus cloud hovering over Antoine’s head, but all that can change with the snap of a finger. They’ve had tough times and sometimes, it seems Antoine is actually the one who takes the hit. Antoine himself isn’t exactly a prize-winning child either. He’s sneaky and a mastered liar, but he also seems to have much potential that is wasted. The day after he played hooky, Antoine returns to school and gives his teacher the excuse that his mother has died. René, a crafty child as well, had given Antoine the idea. Once it is discovered that this was a lie, Antoine decides to run away. He is determined to make money and live out on his own and in turn, steals his father’s typewriter. Unfortunately for Antoine, he gets caught and is later sent to an “observation center.” From there, Antoine escapes and goes to the ocean, the one place he’s always wanted to go, and the place where he feels freedom and possibility, the only things he’s ever wanted.

Enhancing the already complex and intriguing plot are the dramatic aspects of the film. The actors are fittingly chosen and play the part quite well. Patrick Auffay portrays upbeat and clever René with enthusiasm and believability. He adds a good portion of humor to the film that makes it lighthearted, even in the most desperate of times. Guy Decomble plays the French teacher. Although the part requires some physical activity and lots of yelling, Decomble pulls it off with poise and ridiculousness. He’s an easy character to relate to, as we’ve all had teachers like that, which makes the story more believable and enjoyable to watch. The French teacher is the character that I love to hate more than anyone else in the film. Lastly, there is Jean-Pierre Léaud who plays none other than our Antoine Doinel. Léaud accents and adds to Doinel’s personality. He brings Doinel, who is a representation of the director himself, to life. Even though the story is told through a third person perspective, I am able to feel his hardships, his joy, his sorrow, and his desire. The costumes and set design also add to the dramatic aspects of the film. The costumes enhance the characters’ personalities. For example, Antoine’s mom, Gilberte, doesn’t have a lot of money but enjoys wearing fancy clothes anyway. It shows how much she cares about how she looks to others. Also, the costumes distinguish between social class and wealth. René’s clothes are much tidier and more gentlemen like than Antoine’s. Their costumes show the social class difference between the two best friends. Set design and lighting play important roles in augmenting the story. The drearier settings in the film are usually bland and poorly lit, like the school and Antoine’s room, while the happier places are well lit and beautiful, like the Parisian streets and the beach. The dramatic elements are just another plus in this wonderfully recounted story.

Another fantastic part of this movie is the cinematography. A great plot and dramatic elements are good, but a great movie is made with excellent cinematic aspects as well, and The 400 Blows definitely had cinematography working for it. Truffaut clearly made many stylistic choices in his memoir movie; the first of which is his camera work. There are a variety of shots that he uses. In the best of times, the happy and free moments, Truffaut tends to use wide shots that emanate from the subject and expands to reveal a wide downward angle that shows not only the actor, but his or her surroundings, giving us a sense of freedom and even flight. In the worst of times, the camera is usually focused on his subject. Truffaut zooms in on Antoine many times to catch his expression after a significant event occurs, like when his parents are yelling in the next room when Antoine is pretending to asleep, or when his parents discovered he told his teacher his mom was dead. And even other times, the camera moves along with the action, especially in all the escape scenes, when Antoine is running around town and when he escapes from the juvenile detention center. Besides the camera shots, there is also editing and music to consider. The score of the movie is basically the same melody repeated over and over again, only varying in tones and keys depending on the feelings of the scene. The music was more upbeat and in a major key when Antoine and his friend René went to an amusement park after ditching school. The music became sullen and in a minor key when Antoine was traveling in the back of the police car, his fate unknown. And it was hopeful at the end, when Antoine finally escaped and found his way to the ocean. The only cinematic element I didn’t like was the editing. It was very choppy and clearly an attempt at a stylistic choice. The scenes weren’t even that resolute. They just sort of ended and Truffaut would go on to focus on another subject. They also tended to skip around. One time, Antoine would be running around town, then the next he’d be back in his apartment. Although the editing was full of cuts, I still found the cinematic aspects to be quite enticing. For a film fanatic like myself, I appreciated the many stylistic choices Truffaut made, and those choices made an already wonderful movie even better.

There are many memoirs, whether they are movies or books, which share similar qualities to Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, including Richard Wright’s Black Boy. Although the two stories are set in completely different places, one in Paris and the other in Southern USA, there are many similarities between the two protagonists. None of those similarities are physical. Antoine is a French boy who is not officially discriminated against, while Richard is a black boy living in a white dominant south where the law basically condemns him. But both boys want love from their families. Antoine has always seemed a burden for the Doinel family. He’s been moved back and forth, from his grandmother’s to his own home, but it never seems that his mother actually wants him. All Antoine wants is a little love and affection from his mother, not just the fake kind he gets so to keep him from running away, but the real kind, the kind that your mother is supposed to give you. Richard is also held back by his family’s dislike of him. His grandmother disapproves of his “sinning” ways and like Antoine, most of his relatives find him to be a burden. Once again, he just wants to be accepted and he tries, but without their cooperation, it never ends up happening. The main difference between Richard and Antoine’s turmoil in their families is that Richard still loves his mother and she loves him back. She is the reason he tries to head north. He does what he can to better her life as well as his. The other thing that Antoine and Richard have in common is their desire to escape and be free. Antoine is suppressed by the people around him including his parents and his teacher. They don’t understand him and in order to cope, he escapes to the movie theater where he feels like he truly belongs. Richard finds solace in the creative arts as well. He finds his escape in books. But for both of them, neither the movie theater nor the novels are a permanent answer. For Antoine, it will be the ocean. He runs there at the end and it can be inferred that he began a new life. For Richard, it was the north, where he took his mother and brother. There too, he started over.

As Antoine’s face stays emblazoned on the screen, the credits begin to roll and our journey is brought to a close. A creatively crafted movie memoir, The 400 Blows is not your average foreign film. The language barriers still exist, but I know subtitles were made for a reason. Touching, moving, and full of hope, this movie leaves you with a joyous feeling inside your heart. Even if it does have its weird moments and even if some stylistic choices might not be pleasing to everyone, it’s a movie well worth your time. It follows the common theme of struggle within most memoirs, but differs from most memoirs because of the protagonist, Antoine Doinel. A clever and doomed child, Antoine learns to shed his ignorant shield of innocence and embrace the reality of life. Truffaut captures the emotions that come with coming of age and helps us understand Antoine’s many struggles from his teacher to his parents to the time he spent in the observation center. Although this film doesn’t exhibit the movie magic and technology of today, this simple black and white story emotionally touches most that watch it. I would definitely recommend this story to anyone who wants to give it a try. It might seem trivial compared to the multimillion dollar action films of the 21^st century, but The 400 Blows contains something that those movies will never have: essence.