The 400 Blows (1959) (Dir: Francois Truffaut)
Has there ever been a better first film?
Film enthusiast, critic for the influential French periodical Caheirs du Cinema ("Notebooks on Cinema"), and author of the auteur theory, Truffaut had already left a permanent impact on the cinema before he ever stepped behind the camera. As a critic, Truffaut passionately railed against what he considered the staid state of French cinema. Rather than critique from a safe distance, Truffaut entered the fray and changed cinema through iconoclastic example. He would become one of the leaders of the French New Wave" ("Nouvelle Vauge") which rejected traditional cinematic technique and subject matter.
After seeing Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil," Truffaut was inspired to channel his love of film into a directing career. His first film is a cinematic treasure and is an indisputable part of the canon. Want to begin your own cinema appreciation journey? Start here.
Like many a first time novelist, Truffaut looked to his own past to create an autobiographical tale. The film's subject Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud) would reappear in four Truffaut films each time played by the same actor. Antoine's story is very similar to the director's own life. A fatherless child, Truffaut was passed around from family member to family member then eventually reclaimed by his birth mother and stepfather. His guardians would tire of him, irritated by his delinquency, and hand him over to state custody and incarceration until he reached adulthood. Doinel, like Truffaut, would also spend a brief and and troubled stint in the French army.
"The 400 Blows" opens with an uninterrupted tracking shot that travels down a Paris street and escorts us into Antoine's world. It's an elliptical moment that will later be repeated in reverse when Antoine is taken away from home to become a ward of the state. It also prepares us for the film's continual restless movement. Doinel is always on the run away from home and school and onto the streets of Paris. This tracking shot is accompanied by a jaunty theme that increasingly becomes more sad and wistful. In these simple opening moments we are given clues to the arc of the entire film.
Like the film's musical theme, the first moments of "The 400 Blows" are playful. They resemble an "Our Gang" comedy as a classroom of thirteen year olds engage in mischief and are confounded by ruthless teachers and malfunctioning ink pens. Antoine, in a classroom full of goofballs, is repeatedly singled out by his teacher for correction and punishment. This continues at home where his mother and father are constant critics of Antoine and rarely offer positive reinforcement. Doinel, unhappy at home and at school, chooses truancy and constantly attempts to run away from his troubles. Antoine's early experiences, forced marching by gym teachers, running from authority figures, being confined by exasperated by adults, are later repeated in the more sinister setting of juvenile detention. In the film's haunting final moments, we glimpse toddler wards of the state placed in outdoor cages during recess at the juvenile detention facility. This, disturbingly, mirrors an earlier scene of adult prostitutes staring out from a holding cell as they await sentencing. "The child is the father of the man."
Antoine's mishaps are amusing at first, but as he is buffeted by adults at every turn, we begin to feel sympathy for the boy followed by pity and finally hopelessness. Doinel is an unwanted child. No wonder he runs. He is always a problem, never a blessing. There is, however, a brief respite for Antoine when he goes to the cinema with his parents. For Antoine, as for Truffaut, the movies offer a magical escape and a momentary chance for happiness.
"The 400 Blows" is a warning for parents and caregivers. It shows how neglect and constant negative reinforcement necessarily leads to a troubled adulthood. We are impacted by the tale, but not lectured. The film's final moments are haunting and leave Antoine stranded and alone. As he once again runs away from confinement, Truffaut keeps Doinel trapped in the frame. Antoine is moving but he is always in the center of the screen. He is running away, but still confined. And as the film reaches its conclusion, the film freezes on Antoine's face, trapped with nowhere to go. It's a disturbing moment and creates a feeling of hopelessness in the viewer.
Antoine and Colette (1962)
This follow-up to "The 400 Blows" continues Doinel's story and necessarily modifies the closing moments of Truffaut's debut. When we last saw Doinel he was alone and trapped by his situation. He stares blankly at the screen and we are given the impression that this boy is lost, maybe eternally. Turns out he's actually okay if not very happy. The very act of continuing the story undermines the full stop and despair of "Blows." Depending on your reaction to the conclusion of "Blows," this might be a blessing and a relief. It's best, as when approaching most sequels, to let the first part stand on its own and try to approach additional installments as individual films.
"Antoine and Colette" is approximately thirty minutes long and was initially released as part of the anthology film "Love at 20." (Criterion has packaged "The 400 Blows" and "Antoine and Colette" together as part of their Adventures of Antoine of Doniel boxed set.) The film finds Doinel at 17 years old living in a tiny apartment and working in an assembly line at the Philips record company. The film includes a clumsily inserted flashback from the first installment and demonstrates that Doinel has continued his friendship with his more privileged classmate Rene.
While attending a concert with Rene, Antoine becomes fixated on Colette and begins a labored attempt at wooing her. She is kind to Doinel, but, as a narrator informs us, considers Antoine a friend. Antoine, however, is blinded by persistent romantic longing that the series will continue to reference. He fuels his romantic outlook with a steady diet of literature and music. While he obsesses over his nascent romance, Colette goes about dating young men with no intention of ever entangling herself with Doinel. As one prone to similar romantic obtuseness as a young man, I found this chapter of the Doinel story both humorous and a little uncomfortable.
This film also introduces a trend that will recur in "Stolen Kisses." The orphaned Antoine, even into adulthood, becomes the surrogate child of his love interest's parents. The parents, seeing Antoine's need, feed the young man, offer him company, meals and kindness. It's touching, but awkward, as the parents show him more affection than do the young women Antoine is pursuing.
This sequel to "The 400 Blows" is worth viewing more for the work of Jean Pierre-Leaud than for Truffaut's direction. (There is, however, a crackling sequence in "Antoine and Colette" when Antoine keeps trying to slyly ogle Colette and her legs while she pretends not to notice.) Leaud's work in "Blows" is raw and and austere, but in this installment and "Stolen Kisses," Leaud shifts towards a more endearing and hapless comic figure. He is a skilled, unassuming comic, believable and deliciously awkward. He provides enough reason to keep viewers returning to subsequent chapters. With "Antoine and Colette" and "Stolen Kisses," the tone shifts from realism toward farce grounded in humanity.
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