400 Blows
400 Blows
A young Parisian boy, Antoine Doinel, ignored by his parents, plays truant, sneaks into cinemas, runs away from home, steals, and tries (disastrously) to give them back. Like most children, he gets into more trouble for things he believes are right than when he misbehaves. Unlike most kids, he gets beaten. The Paris he inhabits is one of worn down flats, seedy arcades, derelict factories, and workaday streets, a city that seems enormous and full of potential to a child's eye.
4.8 out of 5 based on 8 reviews
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Omniscore:
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| Certificate |
PG |
| Genre |
Drama, Foreign |
| Director |
François Truffaut |
| Cast |
Albert Rémy, Claire Maurier Jean-Pierre Léaud |
| Studio |
Les Films du Carrosse |
| Release Date |
|
| Running Time |
99 minutes |
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A young Parisian boy, Antoine Doinel, ignored by his parents, plays truant, sneaks into cinemas, runs away from home, steals, and tries (disastrously) to give them back. Like most children, he gets into more trouble for things he believes are right than when he misbehaves. Unlike most kids, he gets beaten. The Paris he inhabits is one of worn down flats, seedy arcades, derelict factories, and workaday streets, a city that seems enormous and full of potential to a child's eye.
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Reviews
Channel 4 Film
Jon Fortgang
“Funny, moving, honest and sad, this is a highly effective portrayal of the anguish and restless energy of adolescence by a director about to change the way the world thought about cinema.”
23/04/2009
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The Guardian
Peter Bradshaw
“The film looks superb and Antoine's heartbreakingly open face is like Truffaut's monochrome Paris: beautiful, tough, innocent and yet worldly.”
10/04/2009
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The Independent
Anthony Quinn
“It's a cornerstone of the French New Wave, and one of the greatest movies about childhood, from anywhere, ever.”
10/04/2009
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The Observer
Philip Frenh
“It exudes exuberance, has one of the great juvenile performances, one of the greatest ever final shots, and is a movie that like exercise and wine should be taken regularly.”
12/04/2009
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The Daily Telegraph
Sukhdev Sandhu
“What is there to say about The 400 Blows that hasn't already been said? ... a defining work of the Nouvelle Vague upon its release in 1959.”
09/04/2009
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The Times
Wendy Ide
“Distinguished by its naturalistic, quasi-documentary approach and an extraordinary central performance from the 12-year-old Jean-Pierre Léaud, this is a blisteringly authentic story of a misunderstood child’s rebellion against indifferent parents and oppressive school.”
08/04/2009
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Time Out
Nina Caplan
“The beauty of monochrome ’50s Paris helps, but the magic is in observing the thrill even a maltreated child will snatch from a book, a film or a day truanting at a funfair, through the gaze of a former critic whose elation at getting his hands on a camera burbles through every shot.”
09/04/2009
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The Sunday Times
Peter Whittle
“Reissued on its 50th anniversary, it provides modern audiences with what we might call a low-key viewing experience, although one can still see how its style de kitchen sink — all documentary realism and spontaneity — must have seemed revolutionary at the time.”
12/04/2009
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