Essential Art House: The 400 Blows [Criterion Collection]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

For his feature-film debut, critic-turned-director Francois Truffaut drew inspiration from his own troubled childhood. The 400 Blows stars Jean-Pierre Leaud as Antoine Doinel, Truffaut's preteen alter ego. Misunderstood at home by his parents and tormented in school by his insensitive teacher (Guy Decomble), Antoine frequently runs away from both places. The boy finally quits school after being accused of plagiarism by his teacher. He steals a typewriter from his father (Albert Remy) to finance his plans to leave home. The father angrily turns Antoine over to the police, who lock the boy up with hardened criminals. A psychiatrist at a delinquency center probes Antoine's unhappiness, which he reveals in a fragmented series of monologues. Originally intended as a 20-minute short, The 400 Blows was expanded into a feature when Truffaut decided to elaborate on his self-analysis. For the benefit of Truffaut's fellow film buffs, The 400 Blows is full of brief references to favorite directors, notably Truffaut's then-idol Jean Vigo. The film won the 1959 Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival, even though Truffaut had been declared persona non grata the year before for his inflammatory comments about the festival's commercialism. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Cinemascope)
• Subtitle: Eng

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Nominated Best Original Screenplay - 1959 (François Truffaut, Marcel Moussy)

• British Academy of Film and Television Arts

•     Nominated Best British Film - 1960 (François Truffaut)

• Cannes Film Festival

•     Won Best Director - 1959 (François Truffaut)

• New York Film Critics Circle

•     Won Best Foreign Film - 1959

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Jean - Pierre Leaud - Antoine Doinel
       Robert Beauvais - School Director
       Claire Maurier - Mme. Doinel
       Albert Remy - M. Doinel
       Guy Decomble - The French Teacher
       Patrick Auffay - Rene Bigey
       Christian Brocard - Man with Typewriter

• Director:

  François Truffaut

• Producer:

  François Truffaut

• Screenwriter:

  François Truffaut, Marcel Moussy

• Cinematographer:

  Henri Decaë

• Composer (Music Score):

  Jean Constantin

• Editor:

  Marie-Josephe Yoyotte

• Art Director:

  Bernard Evein

• First Assistant Director:

  Philippe de Broca

REVIEW:

• Dedicating the film to his mentor Andre Bazin, 27-year-old critic-turned-director Francois Truffaut put his critical views into practice in his debut feature, The 400 Blows (1959). Unlike the French "Tradition of Quality" literary adaptations that he reviled, Truffaut looked to his own childhood for the source of Antoine Doinel's delinquent exploits in The 400 Blows, evoking Jean Vigo's Zero for Conduct (1933). Inspired by the stylistics of favorites like Orson Welles and Jean Renoir, Truffaut's moving camera and long takes, combined with location shooting and natural sound, lent Antoine's tribulations a fresh, fluid immediacy that caught critics' and audiences' attention. His innovative final freeze-frame suspending Antoine in an indeterminate future spawned numerous imitations. The Cannes Film Festival gave The 400 Blows the Best Director prize one year after banning Truffaut for his critical harshness; the New York Film Critics' Circle awarded it Best Foreign Film. Released the same year as Alain Resnais' Hiroshima Mon Amour and Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, The 400 Blows' international success helped put Truffaut at the forefront of the nascent French New Wave. He would continue Antoine Doinel's story in three more features, Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1970), Love on the Run (1979), and one short, Antoine and Colette (1962). ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi