The 400 Blows

Directed by: Francois Truffaut

Written by: Francois Truffaut, Marcel Moussy

I hold the people who put the Criterion Collection together in very high esteem. The work they do is pretty remarkable. So, when they release a film, I take it as a recommendation of some cinematic achievement. (That doesn't mean that the movie is necessarily great - they once released an edition of "Armageddon.")

Antoine Dionel (Leaud) is a little hellraiser of a boy. The film opens with him getting in trouble at school, and getting the classic school punishment - sitting in the corner and missing recess. His overbearing though emotionally detached mother (Maurier) and happy-go-lucky father (Remy) seem to have little interest in him. Dionel's problems escalate when he decides to ditch class one day and accidentally comes across his mother having an affair. He even decides to steal and try to pawn a typewriter from his father's business, though he is unsuccessful. Ultimately, his parents hand him over to the police and he is sent to a reform facility, realizing too late how serious his situation had become.

This movie is entertaining, to say the least. A lot of things happen over the course of the film. From beginning to end, this is a plot-rich film, which keeps things moving along smoothly. Despite all the action, the film felt long, though, and dragged on at a few points.

One of the struggles with the film was that it failed to make any of the characters sympathetic. The mother, father, and schoolteacher are all authorities acting seemingly arbitrarily. Even the boy is a bit of a brat - although we're supposed to feel bad regarding his background circumstances. Still, after stealing from his father's business, it's hard to feel much pity.

The final scene of the film does draw forth a strong emotion, despite the general lack of sympathy for Dionel. Without spoiling it, the last scene embodies one of the key struggles of adolescence - structure versus freedom - and it's hard not to feel something while watching it. (Though whether that "something" is exactly what the audience is supposed to feel is up for debate elsewhere.)

Last, but not least, this movie represents Francois Truffaut's rookie effort in film making. You can see that, even early on, he had the talent that would eventually develop and make him one of French cinema's great directors - if not one of the great directors of all time.