The 400 Blows [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Fran?ois Truffaut

Overview

For his feature-film debut, critic-turned-director Fran?ois Truffaut drew inspiration from his own troubled childhood. The 400 Blows stars Jean-Pierre L?aud as Antoine Doinel, Truffaut's preteen alter ego. Misunderstood at home by his parents and tormented in school by his insensitive teacher (Guy Decomble), Antoine frequently runs away from both places. The boy finally quits school after being accused of plagiarism by his teacher. He steals a typewriter from his father (Albert Remy) to finance his plans to leave home. The father angrily turns Antoine over to the police, who lock the boy up with hardened criminals. A psychiatrist at a delinquency center probes Antoine's unhappiness, which he reveals in a fragmented series of monologues. Originally intended as a 20-minute short, The 400 Blows was expanded into a feature when Truffaut decided to elaborate on his self-analysis. For the benefit of Truffaut's fellow film buffs, The 400 Blows is full of brief references to favorite directors, notably Truffaut's then-idol Jean Vigo. The film won the 1959 Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival, even though Truffaut had been declared persona non grata the year before for his inflammatory comments about the festival's commercialism.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/10/2017
UPC:	0715515193818
Original Release:	1959
Source:	THE CRITERION COLLECTION, INC
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W, Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:39:00
Sales rank:	9,051

Special Features

Two audio commentaries, one by cinema professor Brian Stonehill and the other by director Fran?ois Truffaut's lifelong friend Robert Lachenay; Rare audition footage of Jean-Pierre L?aud, Patrick Auffay, and Richard Kanayan; Newsreel footage from the film's showing at Cannes; Excerpt from a 1965 interview with Truffaut in which he discusses his youth, his critical writings, and the origins of the character Antoine Doinel; Excerpt from a 1960 interview with Truffaut about the global reception of The 400 Blows and his own critical view of the film; Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jean-Pierre L?aud	Antoine Doinel
Patrick Auffay	Rene Bigey
Claire Maurier	Mme. Doinel
Albert R?my	M. Doinel
Guy Decombie	Actor
Georges Flamant	Actor
Yvonne Claudie	Mme Bigey
Robert Beauvais	School Director
Jeanne Moreau	Woman with Dog
Claude Mansard	Examining Magistrate
Jacques Monod	Actor,Commissioner
Henri Virlojeux	Night Watchman
Jean-Claude Brialy	Man in street
Jacques Demy	Policeman
Guy Decomble	Actor
Patrick Auffray	Actor
Daniel Couturier	Boy
Fran?ois Nocher	Actor
Richard Kanayan	Abbou
Renaud Fontanarosa	Boy
Michel Girard	Actor,Actor
Henry Moati	Actor,Un enfant/Child
Bernard Abbou	Actor
Jean-Fran?ois Bergouignan	Actor
Michel Lesignor	Actor
Christian Brocard	Man with Typewriter
Marius Laurey	L'inspecteur Cabanel
Laure Paillette	Actor
Philippe de Broca	Man in Funfair
Jean-Luc Godard	Voices
Fran?ois Truffaut	Man in Funfair
Pierre Repp	The English Teacher
Luc Andrieux	Gym Teacher
Jean Douchet	The lover
Jean Constantin	Composer

Technical Credits

Fran?ois Truffaut

Marcel Moussy

Fran?ois Truffaut	Screenwriter,Producer
Marcel Moussy	Screenwriter
Jean Labussi?re	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Dedicating the film to his mentor André Bazin, 27-year-old critic-turned-director François Truffaut put his critical views into practice in his debut feature, The 400 Blows (1959). Unlike the French "Tradition of Quality" literary adaptations that he reviled, Truffaut looked to his own childhood for the source of Antoine Doinel's delinquent exploits in The 400 Blows, evoking Jean Vigo's Zero for Conduct (1933). Inspired by the stylistics of favorites like Orson Welles and Jean Renoir, Truffaut's moving camera and long takes, combined with location shooting and natural sound, lent Antoine's tribulations a fresh, fluid immediacy that caught critics' and audiences' attention. His innovative final freeze-frame suspending Antoine in an indeterminate future spawned numerous imitations. The Cannes Film Festival gave The 400 Blows the Best Director prize one year after banning Truffaut for his critical harshness; the New York Film Critics' Circle awarded it Best Foreign Film. Released the same year as Alain Resnais' Hiroshima Mon Amour and Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, The 400 Blows' international success helped put Truffaut at the forefront of the nascent French New Wave. He would continue Antoine Doinel's story in three more features, Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1970), Love on the Run (1979), and one short, Antoine and Colette (1962).