The 400 Blows
Directed by	François Truffaut
Produced by	François Truffaut
Written by	François Truffaut Marcel Moussy
Starring	Jean-Pierre Léaud Claire Maurier Albert Rémy Guy Decomble
Music by	Jean Constantin
Cinematography	Henri Decaë
Distributed by	Cocinor
Released	May 4, 1959 (French release) November 16, 1959 (U.S. release)
Running time	99 min.
Language	French
IMDb profile

This article is about the French film. A 1980s jazz/funk band were named after the film; see 400 Blows.

Les Quatre Cent Coups (The 400 Blows) (1959) is a French film directed by François Truffaut. Image File history File links Screenshot from the Francois Truffaut film The 400 Blows, with Jean-Pierre Leaud as Antoine Doinel. ... François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut (born in Paris, on February 6, 1932; died in Neuilly-sur-Seine on October 21, 1984) was one of the founders of the French New Wave in filmmaking, and remains an icon of the French film industry. ... Jean-Pierre Léaud (born May 5, 1944) is a French actor. ... Henri Decaë (1915 - 1987) gained fame as a cinematographer entering the film industry as a sound engineer and sound editor. ... May 4 is the 124th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (125th in leap years). ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 16 is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 45 days remaining. ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ... Jazz is an original American musical art form originating around the early 1920s in New Orleans, rooted in Western music technique and theory, and is marked by the profound cultural contributions of African Americans. ... Funk is a distinct style of music originated by African-Americans, e. ... See also: 1958 in film 1959 1960 in film 1950s in film 1960s in film years in film film Events The Three Stooges make their 180th and last short film, Sappy Bullfighters. ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed. ... François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut (born in Paris, on February 6, 1932; died in Neuilly-sur-Seine on October 21, 1984) was one of the founders of the French New Wave in filmmaking, and remains an icon of the French film industry. ...

Overview

One of the defining films of the French New Wave, the film displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. Notably, the story revolves around Antoine Doinel, an ordinary adolescent in Paris, who is thought by his parents and teachers to be a trouble maker. The title of the film is a French idiomatic expression which means roughly "Raising Hell". Legend has it the young Weinstein brothers attended "The 400 Blows" believing it to be racy European fare. They were so moved by the experience it led to a deep and enduring love of film and eventually to their founding Miramax. ... The François Truffaut film The 400 Blows, with Jean-Pierre Leaud as Antoine Doinel. ... The Eiffel Tower, the international symbol of the city, with the skyscrapers of La Défense business district 3 miles behind. ... Miramax is a Big Ten film distribution and production company. ...

This film's story is admittedly autobiographical, reflecting many of the events of Truffaut's own life. The film's style amounts to an autobiographical history of French film, most notably a scene borrowed wholesale from Jean Vigo's Zéro de Conduite. It is dedicated to the man who became his spiritual father, André Bazin, who died just as the film was about to be released. Jean Vigo (April 26, 1905 – October 5, 1934) was a short-lived French film director, who helped in the establishment of poetic realism in film in the 1930s and went on to be a posthumous influence on the French nouvelle vague of the late 1950s and early 1960s. ... Zéro de Conduite (trans. ... André Bazin on the cover of the third volume of the original edition of Quest-ce que le cinéma? André Bazin (April 18, 1918–November 11, 1958) was a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist. ...

The 400 Blows is, besides a character study, an exposé of the injustices of the treatment of juvenile offenders in France at the time.

The film

Antoine was born while his mother was unmarried (as is revealed later in the film). Afterwards she married an older man to "give him a name." She is unhappy in her married life and resents Antoine because of the situation. The family is financially insecure, and Antoine is poorly dressed and poorly fed, and sleeps in a sleeping bag (which he prefers because "at least it's warm") on a cot crammed next to the back entrance to the apartment. Both his mother and his step-father consider him an unwanted burden.

He engages in a series of childish pranks, usually at the instigation of his schoolmates, and bears the blame for each of them.

Eventually, at the instigation of his friend René, he pilfers a typewriter from his father's workplace. After he and René find that it cannot be pawned, he attempts to return it. When he is apprehended by the night-watchman (or, perhaps, the concierge) his step-father turns him in to the police.

After his arrest his mother effectively surrenders control over him to the investigating magistrate, saying that he is incorrigible, leaving him to the "mercy" of the French judicial system. Antoine is put in a detention center, and then a work camp.

His mother makes no plea for leniency, rather she agrees to his commitment to the work camp.

He eventually escapes. The film ends on the famous freeze-frame where Antoine is on a beach with his feet in the surf, looking back to the shore, with no place left to flee. He had never seen the sea before.

During his interrogation at the detention center it comes out that, instead of being raised with his mother and step-father, he has usually been shuffled off to his other relatives.

Awards

The film was widely acclaimed, winning numerous awards, including the Best Director award at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival, the Critics Award of the 1959 New York Film Critics' Circle and the Best European Film Award at 1960's Bodil Award. It was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 1959 Academy Awards, and lost to Pillow Talk. The Palais des Festivals (2000) The Cannes Film Festival (French: le Festival international du film de Cannes or simply le Festival de Cannes) is a film festival held in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ...

Other Antoine Doinel films

Truffaut made four other films with Léaud depicting Antoine at later stages of his life. He meets his first love, Colette, in Antoine et Colette, which was Truffaut's contribution to the 1962 anthology Love at Twenty. He falls in love with Christine Darbon (Claude Jade) in Stolen Kisses, he marries Christine in Domicile conjugal (Bed and Board), but the couple have separated in Love on the Run. Antoine and Colette (French title: Antoine et Colette) is the second film _ a short _ in Francois Truffauts series about Antoine Doinel, the character he follows from boyhood to adulthood through five films. ... Claude Jade (born 8 October 1948 as Claude Marcelle Jorré) is a French actress. ... Stolen Kisses (Baisers volés) is a French film directed by François Truffaut, released in 1968. ... Bed & Board is lodging with food. ... Love on the Run (original title: Lamour en fuite) is a 1979 film directed by François Truffaut, and the last in the Antoine Doinel series. ...

Cast

• Jean-Pierre Léaud: Antoine Doinel
• Claire Maurier: Gilberte Doinel, the mother
• Albert Rémy: Julien Doinel
• Guy Decomble: The French Teacher (Sourpuss)
• Patrick Auffay: René Bigey
• Georges Flamant: Monsieur Bigey
• Pierre Repp: The English Teacher
• The Children: Daniel Couturier, François Nocher, Richard Kanayan, Renaud Fontanarosa, Michel Girard, Henry Moati, Bernard Abbou, Jean-François Bergouignan, Michel Lesignor;
• Avec Luc Andrieux, Robert Beauvais, Bouchon, Christian Brocard, Yvonne Claudie, Marius Laurey, Claude Mansard, Jacques Monod, Henri Virlojeux.

Jean-Pierre Léaud (born May 5, 1944) is a French actor. ... Pierre Repp (b. ...

Crew

• Photography by Henri Decaë
• Camera: Jean Rabier, asst.: Alain Levent, stills: André Dino
• Editing by Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte
• Music by Jean Constantin
• Sound by Jean-Claude Marchetti with Jean Labussière
• Set design by Bernard Evein
• Adaptation and Dialogue by Marcel Moussy
• Direction and Screenplay by François Truffaut
• Direction assisted by Philippe de Broca, Alain Jeannel, Francis Cognany, and Robert Bober
• Production Supervision by Jean Lavie with Robert Lachenay

Dedicated to the memory of André Bazin. François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut (born in Paris, on February 6, 1932; died in Neuilly-sur-Seine on October 21, 1984) was one of the founders of the French New Wave in filmmaking, and remains an icon of the French film industry. ... Phillipe Claude Alex de Broca de Ferrussac (March 15, 1933 in Paris, France - November 26, 2004 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a film director, best known for his comedies with Jean-Paul Belmondo. ... André Bazin on the cover of the third volume of the original edition of Quest-ce que le cinéma? André Bazin (April 18, 1918–November 11, 1958) was a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist. ...

See also

• List of actors
• List of directors
• Cinema of France
• List of French language films
• List of movies

The following are lists of actors: Overall: List of male movie actors (A-K) List of male movie actors (L-Z) List of female movie actors Theater actors: List of male theater actors List of female theater actors Television actors: List of male television actors List of female television actors... This is a list of motion picture and television directors. ... France has been influential in the development of film as a mass medium and as an art form. ... There are two lists of French language films: Organized alphabetically by French title Organized alphabetically by title of English release Alphabetical by French title 2 ou 3 choses que je sais delle (Two or Three Things I Know About Her) 5x2 Ah! Si jétais riche (If I Were... This group of articles compose an alphabetical list of films with entries in Wikipedia (or films of significance which have references in Wikipedia even if no articles yet appear, such as Academy Award winning films, for example). ...

External links

• Les Quatre cents coups at The Internet Movie Database
• Annette Insdorf essay on criterionco.com

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about actors, movies, television shows, television stars and video games. ...