The 400 Blows

"The 400 Blows" (1959)

Directed by Francois Truffaut

I was once an assistant at an educational summer camp and I recall one memorable event in which a boy, in the first grade class, had a tantrum against the pedantic teacher. "You make me mad and sad!" He screamed at her. While this memory is actually pretty hilarious in retrospect, the phrase "mad and sad" is a perfect summation of all of the issues concerning the young teenager, Antoine (Jean-Pierre Leaud), though he, unlike the first grade boy, never has a chance to fully exteriorize his frustrations.

Antoine is an outsider, not only because it is his nature to be curious and explore various sites in Paris, but because his parents and school prove to be inept at dealing with his troubles - he probably has a form of ADD - and his inclination to escape from suffocating, institution-like environments. The film is both a growing up story and a tragedy. Antoine subtly rebels by playing hooky from school, running away from home, smoking a cigar while reading literature by Balzac, and even stealing a typewriter from his dad's office so that he doesn't have to ask his parents for money. But the authority figures react in a harsh and detrimental manner: His mom, who wanted to have an abortion with Antoine, hates him and only treats him nicely when he catches her having an affair and he is sent to the juvenile prison system after being caught trying to return the typewriter to his dad's office.

Truffaut does an outstanding job creating the world from Antoine's perspective - he provides a portrayal of student-to-student power dynamics that feels genuine, of children's propensity to simultaneously fear and push the limits of authority figures, and of the way family relationships can change on a day-to-day basis. The film is effective on a number of levels; it is at once funny, poignant, and, by the end, utterly devastating. It is a fascinating character study of a boy who is in the midst of trying to understand his world when the world is not ready to accommodate him.

Rating: 10

First Viewed: 5/25/08
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