The 400 Blows
Since we will not be having our traditional film discussion on Friday, use this blog entry to discuss our movie from Thursday, Les Quatre Cent Coups (The 400 Blows).
posted by cmartin at 3/29/2006 12:46:00 AM
31 Comments:
I enjoyed the film tonight. Although some parts dragged on, the overall film kept my attention and i thought the story was unique.Some things i noticed about the film "The 400 Blows" were that all the students were male, the kids were very 'into' disobeying or misbehaving behind the teacher's back, and that the adults were very derogative towards the children. I remember this one shot of the main character Doniel when he was looking into the mirror and combing his hair...what an amazing shot! even though the characters back was facing the camera, because of the positioning of the mirrors we could see every facet of his face. i thought that was pretty cool. i also thought that the reason why he chose his mother to be "dead" was possibly because she was "dead" to him once he caught her cheating on his father. maybe thats far-fetched but it popped into my mind. one last thing...does anyone know why the girls at the end were locked in the cage?
Honestly, I was really surprised with the film for being able to keep my attention for nearly the whole movie. It was an interesting story and can still be related to the way kids feel these days in some instances. Children are always going to want to grow up too fast, but its interesting to see how a child can react to negative situations in their lives. I don't think the main character was a bad kid, i think he was just the subject of a few unfortunate situations. I kind of liked it a little. I wish it had more of a happy ending and wrapped things up a bit more. I don't feel like his happiness of reaching the ocean is going to alleviate the problems with his parents and his behavior. It could have definitely used more closure i think. Overall though, not bad. I really liked the idea of getting used to listening to French and being thrown off when I actually heard English. Ir provided a perspective of what the English language sounds like to the French ear, after being so accustomed to hearing French for so long.
San- I don't think the girls were locked in a cage so much as they were just looking through a wrought iron fence. I may have been mistaken though.
I enjoyed the watching "The 400 Blows" on Thursday. I thought it was very interesting to know that the problems the school encounters in the film actually still exists today with young children. It's funny how long ago this film was shot and how we as an audience can relate or symphasize with the main character's unfortunate circumstances today. Has our society really changed? Again, I enjoyed watching the film and listening to French. As a French speaker, I don't get to listen or speak it as often as I'd like, so watching the film was pretty encouraging. The film reminds me alot of "The Dangerous Minds of the Alter Boys". Just the fact that the school boys in the film are pretty much neglected by parents, they are well beyond their years and they pretty much deal with problems themselves. The ending wasn't so happy, but overall the film was pretty realistic.
John G,
I agree with you on the comment you make about being "thrown off" with the English in the film. It's true, after a while I'll get so used to listening to the French, but I'll feel as if I've been splashed with cold water after hearing some of the characters say something or two English. It becomes weird.
john-
i agree, i dont think the kid was bad, i just think his parents screwed him over
Unfortunately, I was not at class on thursday night, so I didn't get to watch the 400 blows. But, I would like to say, while I was reading InStyle magazine, I saw an interview with an actor, Aaron Eckhart, and he said that his alltime favorite film is the 400 Blows. He said, "It's a heartbreaking story, yet so unsentimental. It's about reality." So that's about the extent of my knowledge of the story! Go Gators!
Debbie,
Your point about how the audience can relate to the problems in the movie today, even though they were shot so long ago was the same as my point last week about M, and the the child attackers. Interesting to see a pattern here!
I really enjoyed The 400 Blows. I liked that there wasn’t an extremely structured narrative. Instead the film just seemed to show a series of events in the boy’s life, rather than having a clear cut climax, resolution, etc. I also liked the ending. Even though there really wasn’t much closure, I thought the tracking shot of him running (although long) and then the freeze frame on his face were pretty cool. The film didn’t really end happily for the kid, but sometimes the happiest ending isn’t the best or most realistic ending, and the movie was partly autobiographical. The music was cool, too.
I actually liked the movie a lot which was a pleasant surprise since I went in expecting to horribly loathe the movie. The movie actually reminded me a lot of a book I had to read my junior year of high school, Run Rabbit Run, well without all the sex. In the book though just like in the movie the main character is constantly running away from his problems rather than meeting them head on and dealing with them. I thought it was actually quite meaningful that the father wasn’t actually his father and the mother was cheating on him, that actually didn’t effect Antoine though because he had no real biological connection to the man he called Dad.
As several ahve said I like how the film tried to resmble reality rather than laying out everything. There was a plot but it was very thin and that was the point.
I liked the movie “The 400 Blows” a lot better than I thought I would. I am still getting used to the whole subtitles thing, but it was much easier to watch when the story was interesting. The story line really makes the audience root for the main character and hate the parents. I thought that the parents were so lazy and irresponsible. The stuff that Doniel did wasn’t that bad but they acted like it was the end of the world when he skipped school, stole a book, etc. I thought the story was pretty realistic of young boys and what probably still goes on today at all-boys schools. I thought the ending was cool when he ended up at the ocean – what he always wanted, but I also thought it gave no real resolution to the movie.
Sam -
I agree with you about the girls locked in the cage. It didn't make any sense and it was never explained.
Laura, what a coincidence. His new movie, Thank You For Smoking, looks really cool. It's out in some cities, but not here yet. I've been really excited about this movie for awhile.
Like everyone else, I also really enjoyed "The 400 Blows." I thought it was pretty entertaining the whole time. The plot wasn't very tightly structured and there were a few parts that dragged a little but I felt like that made it very characteristic of the French New Wave style. I thought the movie really did a good job of creating a realistic portrayal of Antoine life. I also liked how there was a very obvious contrast between the harsh and unfair authority of the adults and the playful innocence of the children, even though the children sometimes did grown-up things like drinking and smoking. Overall it was a really good movie.
Ryan,
I'm also really looking forward to seeing Thank You for Smoking. I saw the trailer a few months ago, and I've been dying for it to come out in Gainesville since. It looks really funny.
Overall, I really liked the 400 Blows… At certain points the film did seem to go by slowly and seemed to show sequences that weren’t very important (for example, taking out the trash), but I think those scenes are important in the overall form. Throughout the movie, we keep seeing instances where Antoine keeps messing up or misbehaving (according to adult standards) and he seems like a pretty bad kid. But the whole time I knew there just HAD to be a reason why he has so many problems. The scene where he is being interviewed by the psychologist is my favorite part, because it finally reveals the causes for all of the effects. At this point, the long and seemingly unimportant sequences all make sense and are all validated. I also thought it was interesting how Truffaut, characterized the parents (they seem to take turns with the good cop/ bad cop routine). On a last note, I’m just curious as to why Truffaut chose to use black and white instead of color. Any ideas?
The film "The 400 Blows" was enjoyable although i pretty much though it had interesting sub-plots and underlying themes rather than a whole concrete story. The movie went in a totally unexpected direction when it didn't mention the mother cheating on the father. I always felt that Doniel would blurt it out to the father but he never did, or atleast since the audience never finds out because there is no closure at the end. I seem to enjoy movies about kids and their hijinks but this movie was different in the fact that it was bittersweet because of Doniel being a child in adult situations. I also still dont fully get why the movie is called "The 400 Blows."
I agree with Debbie and everyone else about how the adults were the driving force behind why kids act up. Doniel just needed some positive attention and also his parents made a really big deal about trivial things but were irresponsible themselves.
Sam - Yeah, I didn't really get why those girls were locked in the cage either. They looked like they were way too young to be deemed "juvenile delinquents"...
Alana - I really liked the long tracking shots at the end, especially on the beach. My personal interpretation is that the time it takes for him to reach the water emphasizes the distance he has travelled in reaching his freedom (literally and metaphorically)...
Everyone - I liked the inconclusive ending... It's like the ending of Freeway... For me, Truffaut showed what needed to be seen, and after a certain point, continuing the story would just make it drag on forever. I also, kind of like the mystery of not knowing what happens next... It leaves more up to the imagination...
The 400 Blows is the first French film I have seen. I thought the director Francios Truffaut made the audience feel sympathy for Antoine Doinel, even though he was rebelling and getting in trouble. This movie proves there are traditional human themes that transcend time and culture. (adolescent boys who rebel against authority, are disobedient, run-away, steal, lie, smoke and drink, skip school, etc) One scene I liked is when Antoine and his friend skipped school. I remember loving those spinning carnival rides. The cinematography and camera shots were so amazing that it almost made me dizzy. I also thought that Antoine’s father acted a little harshly by turning him in to the police. All the problems he faced were rooted in the fact that he didn’t have very good parents.
rebeca- i thought the same thing after the movie ended. what does the title have to do with the movie? Maybe i missed something.
I thoroughly enjoyed 400 blows. It did a great job of realistically depicting life for the characters as well as making them just extreme enough to be entertaining. My favorite scene is when he's skipping school with his buddy, and he rides the carnival ride/centrifuge thingie. The use of extreme long take added to the drama and intensity as the world swirls around the boy, as well as his emotions. And the faster they went, the more abstract and indistinguishable the people got, interesting technique. All in all, very bleak and does not provide any real answers.
yeah, the parental/authority figures were definately cast in a negative light. the father was a slight exception
As the film started out, I really enjoyed it. I typically like black and white films, and I didn't really mind the subtitles. I haven't had a French class since I was in third grade, so my French was a bit rusty. I had a lot of thoughts on the movie. I still do not understand why people treat Antoine so badly from the beginning. I understand he was an encouragable child, but any young boy will act like that, and probably worse, if he is treated so poorly. His relationship with his parents is really odd. One minute they act adoringly towards him, and the next ,they don't. I thought the film kind of dragged on, and it could have been cut a bit more. I thought it was odd, also, that the only time Antoine showed emotion was a lone tear when he was loaded in the police van. Anyway, I thought the film was alright, but I don't think I will be going out to rent it any time soon.
I agree with johnathan's comment about the plot being very thin. In my earlier comment, I couldn't think of the word to describe the plot, but thin definately works. There was no background information, and it was up to the viewers to draw any conclusions. I thought this worked to a point, but there is a fine line between making a viewer think and turning a viewer off completely.
At the beginning of the film, I thought Iwas not going to like the movie. BUt, it turns out that I thought that "400 Blows" was a good movie. I thought the director made some pretty goood shoots and the acting wasnt that bad. I didnt really understand why the kid never told his dad about his wife cheating on him or even call out his mom out. They were blamming the kid for being the bad one when it was rally the mom who sheould be punished. Also another thing I didnt understand was what type of parent puts a 13 year old kid in jail?
With what John said, I was also surprised that i Stayed awkae the whole time. I was so tired when the movie started and i amazinngly stayed awake the hwole time.
I thought the movie was decent. It wasn't overly exciting or complex, but it had an interesting story line and some interesting plot developments. There were some parts that seemed to drag on but all in all, it wasn't bad. It was interesting to watch a French New Wave movie, as I'm pretty sure it was the first one that I have ever seen. I thought the parent-child relationship was a little distressing, especially before Antoine had even really done anything. There were some pretty good camera shots used and I really enjoyed the acting. All together, it was a pretty good film.
Alana - Good point about telling his dad about his mom cheating. I had completely forgot about that happening. Looking back, I can't believe it wasn't brought up again in the movie.
I am pretty sure the women were prostitutes who were in jail. I could be wrong, but that was my impression. The title, taken from a source other than myself who doesn't know French, says that the title The 400 Blows "is a literal translation of the original title "Les 400 coups", and like many literal translations, it is wholly inappropriate. A coup can indeed be translated as blow, but it can also mean stunt or trick, and it is the case here: the title "Les 400 coups" is taken from the expression Faire les 400 coups, which means to lead a very wild, undisciplined life, like Antoine Doinel, the main hero of the film, does." Another source tells me that the title is a sort of variant on “raising hell."
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