The 400 Blows
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The 400 Blows (French: Les Quatre Cent Coups) is a 1959 French film directed by François Truffaut. One of the defining films of the French New Wave, it displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. The story revolves around Antoine Doinel, an ordinary adolescent in Paris, who is thought by his parents and teachers to be a trouble maker.
The story is autobiographical, reflecting many of the events of Truffaut's own life. Its style amounts to an autobiographical history of French film, most notably a scene borrowed wholesale from Jean Vigo's Zéro de conduite. It is dedicated to the man who became his spiritual father, André Bazin, who died just as the film was about to be shot.
Besides being a character study, the film is an exposé of the injustices of the treatment of juvenile offenders in France at the time.
"The 400 Blows" has been called a restrained version of Rebel Without a Cause since both deal with the problem of juvenile delinquency.
