Issue Date: July 2, 2006
Re-viewing a French classic
A respected film critic and director admires "The 400 Blows," another critic-turned-director's astonishing debut.
In "The 400 Blows," the entire story is seen through the eyes of its young central character, played by Jean-Pierre Léaud. The newly released DVD, out now, features a digital transfer of the movie.
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THE PLOT: In his impressively assured 1959 debut, François Truffaut, the film critic who led the French new wave cinema movement, tells the story of Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), an adolescent with a bit of a rebellious nature who responds to self-absorbed parents and inattentive teachers by turning to petty crime.
Insider's credentials: Richard Schickel has been reviewing movies for "Time" magazine since 1972, and he has written books on Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Elia Kazan. Schickel has directed 30 documentaries, including "Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us," and the multi-part series "The Men Who Made the Movies."
OVERVIEW: "Before becoming a director, Truffaut had been a film critic. He had always been knocked out by American film noir pictures. "The 400 Blows" is disguised film noir. It begins with the stylish cinematography of Paris, and there's lots of night shooting. The mother, in particular, is a noir character: She's seductive, she has an active sex life, she's stern, and she looks out for herself.''
Scene 12: Momentary happiness -- Antoine and his parents (Albert Rémy and Claire Maurier) enjoy a night at the movies.
"This is such a touching scene. After showing us Antoine getting in trouble and showing his harsh teacher and somewhat domineering mother and somewhat absent father, Truffaut takes us on this happy family outing and lets us see that underneath Antoine's rebelliousness is a boy yearning for love and attention. This is a problem Truffaut has with a lot of modern critics who think art has to be grim and tough.''
Scene 17: "We've tried everything" -- Antoine's dad turns his son over to police after the boy steals a typewriter from his office.
"With its loose story structure and informal camera work, Truffaut's first film was enormously impressive and tremendously influential. People forget that underneath, the film tells a rather traditional story of a young man coming of age."
Scene 23: Antoine runs away -- Antoine heads to the sea after escaping a juvenile correctional facility. The film ends with a classic freeze frame close-up of his face.
"It's a nice note and one we hadn't seen very often at that point. American movies always liked to come to a neat ending, but Truffaut deliberately chooses ambiguity, leaving unanswered the questions of which direction Antoine's going to choose and which way he will turn out as he faces the unknown world of adulthood.
"The critic Leo Braudy has a theory that there are 'open movies' and 'closed movies.' Open movies invite us to speculate about the characters and events, while closed movies are limited to what we see. People tend to like open movies, and this is one of the most open. Its thorough ambiguity was a little radical in its time."
-- Jamie Malanowski
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