The 400 Blows

Every time I watch The 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut, 1959) the film makes me look at life and the transitions involved in life. The dichotomy between a child's world and an adults is perfectly encapsulated within the film and Antoine's (Jean-Pierre Leaud) journey to the ocean at the end of the film marks the transition from boy to man as complete. The trials and tribulations for Antoine are all washed away as he touches the water. When Truffaut freezes the last frame of the film on Antoine's face, Antoine has made that transition in life from child to adult. Just as powerful to me is the painful and cathartic revelation of ones life which Truffaut allows the film to be. It is well known that the film is largely autobiographical and I see this as nothing short of remarkable. To use the vehicle which you self profess "saved" you (Truffaut credits cinema as having saved his life) and while using this vehicle make a masterful work of art, this is nothing short of amazing. The film can be watched over and again and anyone that views the film can take from it a parallel to their own life and relate it to their own experience.

As we grow older in life our experiences tend to become blurred by time. Often our recollections of childhood become murkier, and memory is a fickle instrument. At the same time I believe that all of our personal idiosyncrasies and craziness stems directly from childhood and traumas that occur during these years. In The 400 Blows, Truffaut captures a crystal clear vision of childhood and throws this vision in direct contrast to our lives as adults. At the same time, Truffaut uses his protagonist as an instrument to show us his pain and experience and as a way of connecting with a larger, albeit abstract world.

The 400 Blows magnificently captures the dichotomy between being a child and an adult through imagery, sound, narrative and character. The images throughout the film are a constant display of this dichotomy. Antoine and Rene (Patrick Auffay) are children who play at being adult. Smoking, drinking, gambling they cruise the streets of Paris as young men yet Truffaut will juxtapose these sequences with ones of the boys shooting spitballs. In the police station as Antoine awaits his trial, the cops busy themselves with a child's board game. As a young boy sits in a jail cell, the adult policemen play a game he should be playing at home.

While at home, young Antoine is constantly fed a steady supply of jokes by his stepfather (Albert Remy). Also, the father fails exceedingly at his traditional role. He cannot control his child's behavior, he is a cuckold and like a child is lost in his world of races. This infantilization of the father stands in contrast to Antoine who only wants to be an adult. Brazenly, towards the films conclusion Truffaut places children behind bars while other march as soldiers. This is a strict contrast to an idyllic childlike world, one that Antoine is never truly a part of.

Another severe contrast occurs in Truffaut's use of sound. The score is upbeat and childlike, whimsical at times and always ethereal. Place the score in contrast to the photography of the film. Dark and saturated with natural lighting, the score becomes the child and the photography the adult. Also, Truffaut chooses the location to reignite his score wisely. The film is not overwrought with heavy handed sound cues to spark emotion. This is a definitive contrast to classical cinema which almost used sound as direction to it's audience as to when to have certain feelings and emotion.

Contextually, Antoine is the ultimate transition between the two worlds. Aged 14, obviously a boy in puberty or on the verge of it his desire to be adult overshadows all that he does. He does not receive love from his parents or true guidance at school so he acts out. He rebels, lies, steals, anything for attention that is never forthcoming except in a negative light. He is a child but is constantly placed in adult worlds and situations. As he runs an errand for his mother he comes across two ladies discussing childbirth. Awaiting trial at the police station, he is jailed but kept separate once the three prostitutes enter the jail. He is stuck at this transitional stage and this stage is exceedingly lonely.

This loneliness that Antoine Doinel faces mirrors that of his director, Francois Truffaut. Truffaut does a masterful job of placing Antoine by himself. When Antoine runs away from home, he wanders the Paris streets at night by himself. Antoine goes through the streets in a sort of test run, a pre-journey of discovery. He steals milk to feed himself, he sneaks in and out of the printing plant, his pseudo home. What is striking to me is the reinforcement that Antoine is in this transitional stage. Throughout the night as he wanders the streets of Paris not once does an adult inquire as to why this child is out alone.

Antoine is even alone when he is at home. Prior to the term arising, Antoine is a latch key child. After school he has hours alone with no adult supervision. And even when the adults are home Antoine is segregated and made to sleep in the entryway to their small walkup. Antoine's true loneliness though is a result of his discovery that he is in fact a bastard. This sets him apart from his family, makes him different than those at school and in my eyes, sets him on his journey to freedom. This is his impetus to be an adult. In the adult world he can blend in, not be so alone and different.

This desire to blend in and be apart of something shows a subtlety of genius on the part of Truffaut. As I watch the film I always have to remind myself that Francois Truffaut is Antoine Doinel. So to me, this makes the film Truffaut's way of connecting to society and the world in general. Watching Antoine we come to understand the pain that Truffaut has endured. We empathize with Antoine and so too then Truffaut. What an incredible healing device this film must have been for the man. He can get a larger world to understand him all while purging feelings that may have long ensnared him. Genius!

The other issue that Truffaut confronts within the film is his relationship with his mother. In the film his mother (Claire Maurier) is highly sexualized. She is having an affair and is culpable to having been with at least three different men within the narrative of the film (Antoine's father, his stepfather and her lover). Often times she is seen in half dress of removing clothes. After the familial movie scene, her husband gropes her the second Antoine is not around. This sexualization of Antoine's mother has to be Oedipal in context. How does a boy deal with such an internal struggle? He acts out much in the manner that Antoine does throughout the films narrative.

The narrative to the film concludes with Antoine's final flight to the sea, and it is indicative of many things. In traditional literature the sea can represent wants or desires, freedom, loneliness and even death and rebirth. Every one of these meanings can be applied to Antoine. He desires to be adult. He wants the freedom that accompanies being an adult. I've already mentioned the loneliness Antoine faces and symbolically his running to the sea is the death of his childhood and the true start to his adult life. The strict boys camp he had been placed in was his last chance at being a boy. Even though the film ends where it does, by extrapolation we know it is on to harsher sentencing for Antoine. He has finally gotten his wish and is an adult. Ironically one of the films most precious moments occurs right before his escape. As Antoine is interviewed by the psychiatrist, his youthful exuberance and shyness is on full display. This is the last time Antoine will ever be a boy.

For me this film is so great in it's presentation yet it is also extremely powerful to me as a way to identify with others. I did not have a rough childhood and I never lacked for love from my mother. The parallels start for me in the rebelliousness of Antoine, his insatiable fire to be adult and independent. Not knowing my father has never bothered me personally, but I can empathize with Antoine and readily see how it would spark his behavior. I admire Francois Truffaut for having the courage and the ability to put this story up on film, essentially baring his soul to the world. If you have never seen this film, watch it. If you have seen it, re-watch it. It is damn near perfect. Truly!