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400 Blows

In: English and Literature

Submitted By peterd101402
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The 400 Blows directed by François Truffaut changed many cinematic rules and planted the seed for new ones that are still being used today. This semi-autobiographical film played a large role in the beginning of the French New Wave. The most famous and still well used shot that came out of The 400 Blows was not used until the very end of the picture – the freeze-frame. This stylistic device was not used often at that time and it stuck in audience’s minds.
The film itself follows the everyday life of a boy named Antoine. It’s not a particularly interesting life, but has its moments. He lives with his parents in a tiny apartment dealing with their oddities. His hurtful mom seems to only care about herself and his father appears to be a total fool. At school he is unfulfilled and everyone can tell. He can’t get away with anything in his attempts to make life a little less dull. For the majority of the film Antoine just plods along form one silly event to the next with his pal René. They skip school, go to see movies, and smoke. None of this is exception to watch or overly memorable.
What is exceptional and memorable is how you viewed all this. Antoine travels throughout Paris, walking and sometimes almost jogging or running as if someone was pursuing him. His movement didn’t matter to me at the time until the end of the film when this now familiar trot is highlighted in his escape from reform school on route to the ocean. Even more memorable is how it appears on film. The camera is moving with him, capturing every step, every stride, every rough movement. Then when he hits the beach and stands at the edge of the water, we see him from behind looking over the water before he turns his face back to the camera and it freezes on him and zooms in slightly. That was New Wave and even though I’ve seen it a million times since it was used in this film until now, I could still tell it was a big deal.
I could have taken or left the rest of the film to be honest. But those final scenes - that run through the woods and across the beach, jerking around and making my heart pound with Antoine - was the movie to me. Truffaut could have made that alone and showed it as a short film and I would have enjoyed it just as much as the entire film. I will remember the expressionless look on Antoine’s face as the start of the French New Wave for me.

Work Cited
"The 400 Blows." Watch Videos Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. <http://www.veoh.com/watch/v509066Ysd6QY4C?h1=400Blows>.

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