Matthew Santarsiero
Film 101
3/8/12

The 400 Blows by François Truffaut

The movie 400 Blows, a film that was created over 50 years ago is as modern and extraordinary as any film presently released today. It was made during the French New Wave timeframe which was a completely different style compared to many other films during that period of time and honestly was similar to most of the “Hollywood” movies that I am used to in this country. This new wave of films fundamentally surrounded itself by creating a feel of real life and personality on the screen that would captivate its viewers, and the movie 400 Blows did everything and more than I expected. This movie exclusively left out a realizable plot, but there is one thing that it did not do. It kept the life that Francois Truffaut was telling as real and as close to authentic as he possibly could. It was shot in first person singular which allows the viewer to imagine exactly what is going on inside the head of the protagonist, in this case Antoine Doinel. We as viewers, are able to follow the childhood of young Antoine as he constantly gets into trouble and ultimately how he deals with living with an uncaring and very difficult family in Paris during his adolescent years. It’s very easy to become captivated with the dialogue and acting within this picture because at certain points you feel the characters emotions and daily struggles as if they were your own. During the time of watching this movie I immediately felt like I was sitting in the classroom with Antoine and his class as he was punished and forced to stand in the corner. The teacher is very strict and firm, very appropriate for the time and country this story took place in. The next day when his friend convinces him to skip school, it reminded me of a time of my childhood days doing something very similar. “Hey Antoine! No need to run!” Rene yells to Antoine. “You got any money? Follow me! He says to him. After this scene I began to recall a time when I was pressured into playing hookie by one of my friends to go to the mall instead of going to class that day. We bought lunch with our parents’ money and fooled around at the movie theater much like Antoine and Rene. My life was nothing like Antoine’s at the time but this is a good example of how a movie can capture the imagination of anyone watching it and bring them back memories or even make them think about their life today. I used it as a great flashback into my own life which overall gave me a lot of satisfaction and entertainment reverting to the past.
These types of movies called the new wave were developed in France and revolved around the criteria of film to be the opposite of what you would see in a motion picture in the United States. For example, the people in the eastern world did not believe that the narrative was meant to be spoon-fed to the viewer, but rather used in a way for the viewer to dig deep into truly finding the deeper meaning of the story for a better overall experience. It is truly amazing how the authors’ very incisive writings would totally match the work on their film (p. 475-477). The writer Truffaut did this by including various cinematic techniques that helped portray the film in the certain way he saw fit. He also made sure that he had the right team of workers to create this type of film. Cinematic techniques that were used in The 400 Blows included things such as slang terminology, different camera angles, jump cuts, voice overs and symbolism. These techniques to making the film a better experience were considered revolutionary which is why the new wave style of movies created such a buzz in the country of France, they were completely different from anything anyone was used to before.
Slang terminology was insisted by Truffaut with his actors because his films were low budget and he wasn’t getting professional talent to act in his movies. Therefore, he would demand that Antoine use his own words in the film, language that he was comfortable with and that he used already in his everyday life. This allowed the characters to personify themselves more than they would if they had to completely follow a certain script with no adjustments at all. Different camera angles were used to bring out the necessary emotions that the director thought was needed. For example of the objective of The 400 Blows was to represent Antoine as honestly and as humanly as possible following his every move. High angle shots were used in the beginning of the book to show Antoine from a distance alone in a very big city and maybe a lonely world. Utilizing an angle that shows the very tall building structures including multiple shots of the Eifel tower looming above him with Antoine lurking at the bottom may have suggested an intimidating life for young children. It changes as the movie progresses and as the protagonist changes from being an innocent young child to someone who is clearly rebelling against the authority of his parents and school teachers vying for the chance at freedom. Close-up shots were demonstrated during scenes in the classroom when depicting the school teacher as a form of power and authority over his students as the camera showed the students always as a group.
Jump cuts are unexpected, quick editing cuts that are placed out of sequence during an uxepected moment in the movie. They confuse the viwer into seeing crazy images very quickly and usual traditional filmmaking did not use these techniques. But for the new wave filmmakers, this is why they wanted to use it, to be different. I couldn’t tell if this movie was using voice over’s in any of the scenes opposed to just using natural sound. If they were using a voice over, then they were doing a great job because it was unapparent to the viewer. I think that the director used a variety of natural sound and voice overs to best create the type of sound that he wanted. Truffaut was also known for improvised filmmaking, recording in the most naturalistic way possible. Most big business filmmaking utilized tight control over the process by only shooting in a controlled environment where all things that appeared on the screen were immensely controlled. Well, he did not believe in that, therefore his movie was so different for its time allowing extras to be shot in the middle of town on the street and other recording done in local parts of the city.
As far as symbolism goes, the movie portrays very good symbolism that was obvious to me in certain ways. Symbolism is a way of representing a theme or idea through an object for example, I think there was great symbolism when Antoine looked in the mirror at himself in a particular scene in their apartment and then not too much longer his mother did the same thing. In my opinion this was a representation of two people looking at themselves to try and figure out what is going on in their life. Both characters are confused at this point in the movie and are seeking a way to find themselves. The way they do this is by both looking into the mirror from different points which was very ironic to me.
Another type of emotion that needs to be addressed is tragedy. This was portrayed to me as parents who do not want to have children. It is obvious that Antoine’s parents are very difficult to deal with and lead a very harmful life to their adolescent child. It does not make sense to me how a mother and father could not raise their son to normal standards with love and care like normal familes grow. This is in a way very upsetting to the viewer especially if they are from a loving family like mine. My parents have always cared for me and loved me unconditionally, raising me in a nice town in a nice house and in a nice school system so that I could I be who I am today. When I see a movie that is supposed to be very real and the parents are not treating their child with the same values as how I was brought up it gets to me and affects me in a negative way.
My favorite scene in the movie is when Antoine escapes from the juvenile center that he is put into. His mother visits him and tells him that his letter to his father hurt very much and that everyone is gossiping about her and this makes her embarrassed. Before this he sees his friend trying to come and visit him but is denied access the building not being able to speak with Antoine. I think this gets him emotional and therefore he reacts by running away. The camera angles start very close to him as he runs away and you can hear every distinct footstep that he is making even his panting as he gets tired. The camera angle then shifts to a farther away shot showing more of the landscape and bodies of water that he is around also including a type of music that symbolizes an ending. The last scene ends with him completely isolated as he jogs towards the water and stops not knowing what to do next.
Overall I really enjoyed this movie and learned quite a lot about the history of new wave and different ways in which a film can be made ranging from the angle of shooting, the narrative, background music, different types of hidden meanings, and mainly your own interpretation to what you are watching. These types of movies require more than just sitting and watching but more into thinking about real life and actually what is happening inside the realm of the narrative. I definitely can now understand how different foreign films can be from movies made here in Hollywood and I actually can learn how to be entertained by them. Truffaut is a very talented director who allowed me to get a great experience from one of the best new wave films that was ever produced and I look forward into studying more films like his and from the new wave era.