The 400 Blows (1959) - Lets talk film / Failure, Freedom and France

nandan (61)in #film • 6 years ago (edited)

Have you ever felt trapped in your life? It could be your college or your work. You want to do much more interesting things in your life, but you are shackled because of your school or office and your dreams will remain as dreams. "The 400 Blows" is a movie that talks about the similar themes, it follows a 14 year old boy named Antoine Doinel. Directed by François Truffaut this film was revolutionary for its style, the use of camera and the storytelling.

Truffaut is one of the pioneers of French realism, his movie along with others broke the way of making the cinema. This movie captures the essence of being a 14 year old in Paris. Antoine is a very imaginative kid who wants to go and see other places. But, he has a dis-functioning family and he will be having a tough time at school.

This film is Antoine's journey towards his freedom. He will be trying to run away from all the clutches of the life. He will try many things to fund his escape plan. He even tries robbery. The struggle of being a poor is portrayed effectively. His mother being a single mom will be trying to bring food on table by dating other men, but obviously Antoine will not be liking it.

The movie also mocks the education system. We see how students are made to behave in a certain way, but still some of them escape this. Antoine will be having a tough time at school, he will be write Balzac's story as an essay in school. Teacher will punish Antoine as he plagiarized Balzac. But, here we see the teacher failing to identify the what a good taste Antoine had, before punishing him. This will add more pressure to Antoine.

Truffaut was inspired from his own life to make this film. Even he had a rough time growing up in Paris. He managed to express every single emotions accurately by drawing inspirations from his past.

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This is one of the best french new wave films. I don't think everyone will like this film, beacuse of the fact that many other films have come which have talked about the similar themes. But, if you are a cinemaholic then you will find gold nuggets in this. Thank you for reading this post. For more posts and reviews on movies follow me. Cheers !