John Winkler
10/11/11
Title: 400 Blows
Language: Film
Runtime: 99 min
Release Date: 1959
Awards/ Nominations: Best Director Award at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival, the Critics Award of the 1959 New York Film Critics' Circle, and the Best European Film Award at 1960's Bodil Awards. It was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 32nd Academy Awards.
400 Blows
“400 Blows” is a French language film directed, produced, and written by François Truffaut. It was released in France and the United States in 1959.The film is highly acclaimed and has won and been nominated for numerous awards.
The film begins with a montage of France and revolves around a young boy dealing with adolescence in France. This film conveys “the new concept of film language born,” according to Sergei Eisenstein a new concept of film in his time was “an expression of cinema thinking, when cinema called upon to embody the philosophy and ideology of the victorious proletariat.” The boy in this film, Antoine Doinel, is a direct reflection of a young mind influenced by society, culture, curiosity and rebelliousness. However, his role of individuality is what make categorizes this film as a “wonder.” According to Eisenstein, “a “wonder” must promote cultural progress, feeding and stimulating the intellectual questions of our day,” and “individuality” leads to a deeper meaning that is demanded in good cinema. The theory on wonder is a reflection from Eisenstein based on Kabuki Theatre. In addition to the Japanese theatre of Kabuki; Japanese film Karakui-musume, has a direct reflection to 400 Blows. Karakui-musume is “a melodramatic farce. Beginning in the manner of Monty Banks and ending in incredible gloom.” 400 Blows, beginning as a childish humorous story of a kids life and ending with a gloomy story of hardship and loneliness.
Two articles about 400 Blows are, The New York Times, “A Troublemaker Who Led a Revolution,” by Terrence Rafferty ; and an article on the movie by Roger Fristoe from Turner Classic Movies. Rafferty’s article is mainly about Truffaut and his influences in his own life that influenced the film. It explains that Truffant made this film so different from films at that time, in order to show his distaste for the “ideal” film and film criticism accepted at that time. Also, the article shows the direct relation between the troublemaking Antoine Doinel, and the troublemaking Truffant. Fristoe’s article is similar to Rafferty’s; it briefly explains the connection between Truffant and Doinel, as well as explains the influences Truffant had. It also briefly looks into the style of the film.
Both of these articles do a great job of explaining some of the underlying influences that formed this film. Touching upon how the rebelliousness, curiosity, and individuality showed the main character Antoine, is in fact a direct reflection of Truffant’s own rebelliousness, curiosity, and individuality. We further get a better understanding of why this film seemed so unusual; “The film was so fluid, so graceful, so apparently natural, that it seemed not to have any agenda at all.” (Rafferty) The uniqueness of the film is explained as well as credited to Truffant’s experienced cinematographer, Henri Decae. “Decae, who worked very fast and liked to use natural light. The exteriors, with Decae's fluid tracking shots, reflect the freedom and spontaneity with which Antoine and his friend Rene roam Parisian streets.” (Fristoe)
Overall, this film supports Eisenstein’s theories in several different ways. However, Eisenstein’s one quote “down with the story and the plot” sums up this film perfectly. As explained in the two articles, this film was made to be different and that’s exactly what it is. The film was not elaborate, but instead natural as films generally weren’t at that time. The different feel of the film is made it so intriguing. As I am not a huge old film buff, I can definitely say I like the uniqueness of this film. It wasn’t your basic “Hollywood” piece of garbage. It was a film that really grabbed your attention and made you wonder. As Eisenstein said “It was important that the seen be first penetrated by the general image,” and this could definitely represent this film. For it’s emphasized importance on the visual aspects of the film, leaving no definition to the meaning of the film but rather just a sense of wonder, the film is simply best explained with “down with the story and the plot.”
Article References
Rafferty, Terrence. "A trouble maker who led a revolution." NY Times . N.p., 23 Sept. 2007. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/movies/23raff.html>.
Fristoe, Roger. "The 400 Blows." TCM Turner Classic Movies. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/88149%7C0/The-400-Blows.html>.
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