| The 400 Blows - Criterion Collection | 
| Director: Francois Truffaut
Actors: Jean-pierre Leaud, Albert Remy, Claire Maurier, Guy Decomble, Georges Flamant
Studio: Criterion
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (89 reviews)
Sales Rank: 15614
Format: Black & White, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD
Running Time: 99 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: IMED1625D
UPC: 715515017527
EAN: 0715515017527
ASIN: B000E5LEV0
Release Date: May 9, 2006
Theatrical Release Date: November 16, 1959
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Description
Francois Truffaut's first and most personal feature film, told from the perspective of the director's lifelong cinematic counterpart, Antoine Doinel. Sensitively recreating the trials of Truffaut's own childhood, The 400 Blows unsentimentally portrays aloof parents, oppressive teachers, petty crime, and a friendship that would last a lifetime. Available after a long absence as a single-disc release.
Amazon.com essential video
Francois Truffaut's first feature was this 1959 portrait of Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud), a boy who turns to petty crime in the face of neglect at home and hard times at a reform school. Somewhat autobiographical for its director, the film helped usher in the heady spirit of the French New Wave, and introduced the Doinel character, who became a fixture in Truffaut's movies over the years. Poignant, exhilarating, and fun (there's a parade of cameo appearances from some of the essential icons and directors from the movement), this film is an important classic. --Tom Keogh
Amazon.com
The knowing yet innocent face of Jean-Pierre Leaud, the 14-year-old star of The 400 Blows, is the heartbreaking core of Francois Truffaut's most intimate film. As Antoine Doinel, Leaud begins his career as director Truffaut's alter-ego, a young boy neglected by his mother and stepfather who, to cover his absence at school, tells a lie that leads him to run away from home and end up in reform school. There's nothing remarkable or surprising about the plot; the power of this film comes from how completely it draws you into Antoine's life. Antoine is a vivid, natural presence, one of the most compelling collaborations between a writer/director and an actor. The movie seems to capture him as he lives. Antoine endures his parent's indifference, humiliations at school, deprivation and juvenile delinquency--yet the movie never feels pitying or condescending, as if it were trying to rub your nose in Antoine's suffering. On the contrary: His resilience is what grabs you, his refusal to be broken down as he struggles towards a more adult understanding of the world. Truffaut and Leaud made many excellent films together (Day for Night, Two English Girls), including further chapters in Antoine's life (Bed and Board, Stolen Kisses), but none were quite as simple, rich, and devastatingly potent as The 400 Blows. (The title, incidentally, refers not to abuse or anything sexual, but is a French idiom for a wild and unruly youth or "raising hell.") --Bret Fetzer
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| Customer Reviews: Read 84 more reviews...
 Unforgettable October 10, 2008
The 400 Blows is a film that, many say, predated Elia Kazan's East of Eden. The 400 Blows came out in 1959; French director Francois Truffaut directed the film, which follows the difficult existence--both at home and at school--of a very young boy, Antoine (Jean Pierre Leaud).
The film's opening scene is in a classroom. The teacher sits at the head of the classroom; his sharp voice rings out over the students. A pin-up photo makes its rounds on the student's desks. The teacher is preoccupied, his head is down, and he is reading from his notes. But at the precise instant Antoine passes the pin-up, the teacher looks up and catches Antoine red-handed. The teacher orders Antoine to stand in the corner while his classmates run out for a recess in the schoolyard. Right off the bat, it's established that Antoine will suffer consequences for everything that he does. While serving his sentence in the corner of the classroom, Antoine attempts a poem on the chalkboard. The teacher sees the poem and orders Antoine to clean it off of the chalkboard. Antoine gets some rags to wipe off the chalkboard. The teacher yells at Antoine for making even more of a mess.
At home, Antoine's parents treat him as a tenant. His mother, Madame Doinel (Claire Maurier), is
Antoine's young and beautiful mother; Monsieur Doinel (Albert Remy) is Antoine's naive stepfather. Money is short, and late at night, Antoine's parents yell at each other. They argue about money. They are behind on the bills. They argue about Antoine eating too much and getting himself into trouble at school. Antoine develops an interest in Balzac. Again, this gets Antoine into trouble. He builds a small shrine to Balzac in his parent's home. He lights a candle and places it inside this shrine. This gesture nearly burns down the apartment.
One day, Antoine skips school to have fun. He has some explaining to do the following day. His teacher is cynical and sarcastic; he's heard every excuse from Antoine. Antoine tells the teacher that his mother died. This lie wins the sympathy of his teacher. Then, a boy stops by Antoine's home. The boy asks how Antoine's feeling. Antoine missed school the day before. Antoine's parents are pissed. They go to the school and to Antoine's classroom. The teacher sees Antoine's mother; she isn't dead. The teacher feels betrayed. The angry stepfather smacks Antoine in front of his teacher and classmates. Antoine is disgraced, but he'll get more when he goes home. Instead, he runs away. Things don't get any better from this point.
400 Blows is a semi-biographical film written, produced, and directed by Francois Truffaut. The film's not all gloom. There are many funny moments to offset film's serious message. You'll be thinking about this film for a long time.
author of Gotta Be Down!
 It Endlessly Rewards Close Attention August 20, 2008
"The Four Hundred Blows," (1959) a drama with comic touches, was the first full-length feature film from famed French director/movie critic Francois Truffaut, and is generally considered the first "Nouvelle Vogue" film - that is, new wave. Truffaut had previously been active as a movie critic on "Cahiers du Cinema," a well-known French magazine devoted largely to American films, when, almost on a bet, he decided to try his hand at film-making. The result, "400 Blows," at 99 minutes, made when he was just 28, is, of course, world-famous. It is generally considered a pioneering film, and a triumph of movie-making. It's still fresh, interesting, closely-observed, and intense, after all these years.
Truffaut both wrote and directed his script. It's set in dreary wintertime Paris, in the part of the city where Truffaut grew up, the working class "banlieus" of Montmartre, far from its iconic tourist attractions. Much of the film is set in an extremely cramped apartment, six flights up, typical working class housing of the time, where the young Antoine Doinel is nightly sent down with the garbage.
We see Antoine, meant to be 12 years old, and instinctively played by the 15-year old Jean-Pierre Leaud, at home, with his somewhat neglectful, distracted parents. His kindly stepfather, Julian Doinel (Albert Remy), married his beautiful mother Gilberte (Claire Maurier), giving his name to her illegitimately-born son, who initially lived with his grandmother. His mother doesn't seem to much care for her boy. We also see Antoine at school, where he is definitely not a teacher's pet. We're supposed to believe that the boy's somewhat unsupportive environment causes him to run away and predisposes him to a life of petty crime. Though frankly, compared to the horrors we've seen, in the way of abusive families and dysfunctional schools, nothing about his young life seems that terrible to me. Be that as it may, Doinel does run away; with his young friend Rene, he goes to the movies a lot, and slips into petty criminality. He's found out, goes through the justice system, as his parents wash their hands of him, and is sent to reform school.
Truffaut told interviewers he was strongly influenced by the films of Alfred Hitchcock, and, closer to home, Jean Renoir, son of the famous painter Pierre Auguste. The director believed that this first film of his was the first film to center on a child, in an unsentimental way, and to treat its material in an almost documentary style. All sources agree that the picture is strongly semi-autobiographical: Truffaut was illegitimately born, and raised by his grandparents; he started his heavy movie-going at age seven. He was a great reader but not a good pupil, and left school at 14 to get a job. He was sent to jail for desertion from the army.
The movie, an accretion of wonderful interludes, endlessly rewards close attention. There's a schoolboy ripping his copybook apart, as his pen keeps blotting the pages. A punch and judy show filmed before a live audience of little children, showing their fresh, unguarded reactions, as it was done with a hidden camera. A jog, supposedly supervised by the gym teacher, taken through the streets of Paris by the schoolboys: Truffaut's camera shows the boys quietly peeling off. Antoine's shaken-up ride in a gravitron at a local amusement park. The little shrine Antoine sets up at home to famed French author Honore Balzac, whose work he loves: he lights a candle to the author, and sets the apartment on fire. And, finally, a remarkable long tracking shot of Antoine running, running, running away from the reform school towards the sea, which he's never seen. And a freeze-frame shot at the seashore that film scholars will probably argue about for a good long time.
 Beautiful cinematography May 24, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Antonine Doinel, is a 13 year old boy who gets in trouble at school, gets yelled at by his Mom and Dad and eventually runs away from home to a life of petty crime with his friend. He eventually gets caught and is sent to reform school by his parents.
This cinematography in this movie is first rate - even in black and white - boosting my rating from a 2 to a 3. Beautiful scenes of Paris, the countryside, the ocean, the school yards and the facial expressions of the main characters.
However, I found the storyline unbelievable. Antonine did not strike me as having such a difficult upbringing to lead to his skipping school, committing petty theft and running away from home. He had food to eat. His parents loved him. He had shelter. His parents seemed quite well intentioned even with the latch key aspects of his upbringing. His parents also seemed far too well intentioned to dump him in reform school over some minor crimes. Finally, the pace of this movie is excruciatingly slow. This movie wasn't for me.
Intriguing. May 20, 2008
The 400 Blows is a beautiful black and white french film. The cinematography is breathtaking and the acting is glorious. I watched this gem for my College film class a few years back and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The ending is a bit disappointing but this film has always stayed with me, I highly recommend checking this classic out!
A cinematic masterpiece May 3, 2008
Truffaut's insights into childhood are legendary; but this film is also a visual journey through the human soul. From the masterful interiors to the splendid crane-like shots of Paris in mid century, this film is truly nothing less than a loving camera taking us to the deepest reaches of our need for personal expression.
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