The 400 Blows (1959) (AKA Les quatre
cents coups)
We never find out exactly what the
title's numerous "blows" are all about from watching
the film. In fact, this Academy Award winner from
Francois Truffaut leaves us with a lot of unanswered
questions.
This was the Truffaut's first film
as well as the first film in his autobiographical
"Antoine Doinel" series (see "Notes" below.) In this
film Doinel is about 13, just entering that awkward
stage between child and man. His history is slightly
sad and he carries it around like so much excess baggage.
Neglected by his mother and step-father he begins
to rebel with small wrongs. Some of these get out
of his control (or so he thinks) and he ends up paying
a heavy penalty. Although it seems that these penalties
are mainly self-imposed by the boys naivete, they
are none-the-less realistic.
Truffaut's minimalist black and
white images are always interesting and he films the
scenes here with an staunch eye. To Doinel everything
is black and white. So we see things through his clear-cut
vision. For example, when Doinel gets caught in a
lie, he thinks he can no longer return home and spends
the night on the street. Truffaut never shrinks from
showing us Doinel's fears and anxieties. And in the
process we begin to feel sorry for the lad.
How many of these little vignettes
are actual scenes from Truffaut's past are unknown
to me. But Truffaut films these scenes from the view
of the man-child with touches of boyishness and flickering
moments of masculinity. Indeed Truffaut seems to know
his subject matter well, after all it is supposedly
his life. Therefore, he never fails to get his point
across. Doinel feels neglected and the little things
just seem to keep mounting up against him. And what
would a 13 year old boy do in these situations but
run. Run both physically and mentally.
Jean-Pierre Leaud is the young actor
portraying Doinel and he is incredibly engaging. This
young actor distinguishes himself in the company of
some fine performers. Leaud seems to understand the
angst and the hurt his character is experiencing.
There is one scene during Doinel's night on the street
where he steals a bottle of milk and then drinks it
hungrily. Leaud drinks the fluid with the exact mannerisms
of a starving child. That's how good his performance
is, he elevates the drinking of milk to an artform.
Filmed in France, the dialogue is
in French with English subtitles. The version I saw
(on VHS) handled the translation in a sparing manner.
I always dislike a film with subtitles that translate
obvious words like "hello" or "thank you" but these
subtitles are even more cryptic than I care for. Sometimes
only one side of a conversation is translated. We
still get the point but maybe we miss some of the
subtler nuances. Still the gist of the conversations
are easy to understand and the overall quality of
the dialogue is not too badly damaged. The visuals
her are probably more important than the dialogue
anyway.
"The 400 Blows" is a an interesting
film but it's sudden, albeit poignant, ending leaves
one wanting to see what happens next. I guess that
is why it took 4 films for Truffaut to tell his story.
I liked this film but now I have to see the next in
the series, and the next...
Notes:
Winner of the Academy Award for
Best Foreign Language Film.
The other film's in this series
are: "Love on the Run," "Stolen Kisses," and "Day
for Night." in addition, Doinel appears in the "Antoine
and Colette" sequence in Truffaut's 1962 film "Love
at 20." (Leaud appeared in many of these as Doinel).
There is an improvised scene with
Jeanne Moreau (in voice- over) as a psychologist.
In reality, Truffaut asked the questions.
The title is a French colloquialism
for getting into trouble, or being a real troublemaker.
Review written in 1993.
