400 Blows Journal

Mike Di Benedetto, 10/11/11, 400 Blows, French, 1959, Francois Truffaut, New York Film Critics Circle Awards (Best Foreign Language Film, 1959), Sant Jordi Awards (Best Foreign Director, 1961).

            400 Blows was among the most fundamental films of the French New Wave.  The New Wave movement promoted the “auteur theory” – the notion that a film’s director not just be a component in the making of the movie, but the driving force and main storyteller.  New Wave emerged in the late 50s and 60s, and its films showcased a detachment from standard and classic cinematic form; instead, these films ventured into uncharted territories, experimenting with editing, visuals and unconventional ways of telling their stories.  Francois Truffaut’s 400 Blows is an excellent example of all of this.

            The first article I read was a review by Nicole Rupersberg from ‘thedetroiter.com.’  The review begins with some background on Truffaut and the French New Wave and then goes on to describe the characters and plot of the film.  The reviewer discusses some specific shots (the bird’s eye view of the boys squirming in line while in gym class running through and the incredibly long shot of Doinel running to the sea at the end) and concludes with declaring 400 Blows as not so much a cornerstone of the New Wave movement but rather a precursor that certainly broke new ground.

            The second article I read was written by Leonard R. Koos and taken from the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television entitled, “The French New Wake: a new look.”  The author refers to French New Wave as a “groundbreaking phenomenon” and applauds it on levels of aesthetics, politics, theory and approaches to production.  He brings up some prime film examples, 400 Blows being one of them, and then ends by emphasizing the importance and influence that the French New Wave and its films had on world cinema.

            Both articles define 400 Blows more as preceding material gravely significant to the actual New Wave movement – a film that many from the actual movement borrowed from and built off of, according to Koos.  Of course, the radical nature of New Wave films can be seen in 400 Blows, Rupersberg feels it is, as well, the individualistic quality of the film – it’s main character’s close relationship to the audience that has impacted so many films and directors since. 

            Personally, I really enjoyed watching this film, as well as learning about it.  Like a piece of music, I feel film is best enjoyed with knowledge of the context surrounding it and its place in history.  400 Blows is an instrumental piece of work, and many aspects of the film, most notably the cinematography and narrative, have been adopted not just by the French New Wavers that were to spawn shortly after, but in today’s film, and probably, tomorrow’s.