The 400 Blows
The 400 Blows is a beautiful film. The aesthetic, being shot in black and white, was a conscious choice on Truffaut’s part that I personally loved. It gives it a sort of authentic and nostalgic feeling as well as melancholic. The film is quite sad, following the young boy Antoine as he tries to navigate life. He is misunderstood by the adults in his life, and takes comfort in his only friend René. He rebels against his teacher and parents, and begins to lead a life of petty crime. This ultimately leads to his arrest and sentence to a juvenile detention facility. I find the ending very bittersweet. Antoine has managed to escape the institution and runs to the ocean. He mentions earlier in the film how he had never seen the sea before. As he wades through the water, the film ends on a zoomed in freeze frame of his face. Up until now the audience may have been hoping for a happy ending, Antoine finally finding a good place for himself. Truffaut doesn’t give that. As Antoine looks out at the ocean, we realize this is it. It ends up in the air for the audience to make their own interpretations and guesses of what happens next. It’s a bit jarring and really forces the audience to actively participate, which was Truffaut’s goal. I actually like it when movies end in this way. You leave the movie still thinking, and the film stays in your mind much longer than if it were to have a definitive ending. I think it can be a lot more impactful.
McCreary says in his article, “Film and History: New Wave Cinema and ‘68”, that “authenticity was valued over quality” in the New Wave (McCreary 65). He also talks about how Truffaut describes “the French ‘quality’ film…[being] far removed from authentic personal experience. Truffaut does just the opposite in The 400 Blows. It is raw, authentic, and personal. It is semi-autobiographical of Truffaut’s own life growing up. Many people may be able to identify with some trait of Antoine; whether it's the feeling of being lost and misunderstood, or maybe having had a rebellious phase yourself. Truffaut takes an emphasis on creating a real and relatable character rather than the quintessential protagonist of films in the past. I really appreciate this aspect of the film. The directors of the French New Wave, believed film was “a cultural experience in which what was important was the interaction between the film and the audience, the director and the spectator” (McCreary 66). Truffaut does just this; he creates an experience through his film specially curated for the audience.
I agree when you talk about Antoine's character. He is supposed to be relatable. He is supposed to be the connection with the audience. It's funny that now we have these movies buzzing around with little to no character context that end up being very popular. And the freeze frame is so important. He looks directly into the lens; what does that tell us? It's a moment where we have to jump to our own conclusions. I wonder what Truffaut would say if he was asked what happened next.
ReplyDeleteAstra this film is the first of a three part series so if you want to see what happens next you can actually just watch the next movie. The older the protagonist gets the more the films deviate from Truffaut's own biography though.
DeleteI really agree with your statement about the feeling of authenticity. It really feels like someone just picked up a camera and filmed someone's life. From the atmosphere to the character interactions and feels really authentic. The only time that authenticity should ever feel broken is in the final scene and even then the scene is really good and very symbolic it doesn't feel that way at all. It still feels authentic, like the film maker is addressing the audience for once instead of finding some other way to capture that emotion without breaking the immersion. It does feel like they went for authenticity over immersion even though immersion in the film is great as well.
ReplyDeleteI think the ending was very bittersweet too, since it seemed to fall in line with a lot of the existential ideas of the French New Wave. It kind of just made you sit with the idea that even the things you really like or look forward to are going to be shitty...
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy the feeling of a jarring ending! There is something special about leaving a movie theater (or turning off your computer) and internally reeling. I think that you also bring up an interesting point on Antoine's " feeling of being lost and misunderstood." This makes me wonder about that feeling of being misunderstood in the context of the postwar youths that thought and acted differently than the filmmakers before them. I wonder how many filmmakers experienced Antoine's same experience as children?
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone here that the film uniquely captures a feeling of authenticity. I especially feel this in relationship to way it captures the emotional feeling of being a child on the cusp of adulthood. The fact that this is very carefully planned and executed is hidden by some of the important traits of the New Wave such as location shooting and the use of portable cameras. You really get a sense of place and movement with this film and that's so important for this story.
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