Les 400 coups

‘Unbearably beautiful’ are the opening lines of Francois Truffaut’s short autobiographical film ‘Les Mistons’ which often accompanies screenings of The 400 Blows. After watching the latter film, I realised that this is the exact way I would describe it. It is beautiful beyond belief. Not just the stunning black and white photography and shots of 1950’s Paris, but through the acting, the poignancy of the story and mainly the characterization of Antoine Doinel.Here is a boy who is neither mean-spirited, delinquent nor criminal, yet he spends most of his days at school banned from spending recess with the other boys, chastised by his teachers who always seem to catch him at the moment he does something he shouldn’t, regardless of whether he is truly to blame. At home things are fairly dysfunctional yet stable-his mother is distant and vain and his father is well-meaning but ill-equipped when it comes to acting as a paternal role model, yet Antoine’s home life is not one that could often be considered ‘broken.’ He is simply a fourteen year old boy, who wants desperately to break free of the constraints of mundane academic routine and make his own way in the world. As is the truth of being a teenager, he is unable to fulfil whatever potential he holds as he is still young, un- educated about the world and still under rule from his frustrating, flighty parents and bitter professors. All he can do as some form of rebellion is to misbehave at school, play truant with his best friend Rene and indulge in petty theft- one such occurrence results in a final punishment as he is sent away to a correctional facility. 

Although not strictly an autobiographical story, there are many elements of the film that rang as true for Truffaut as well as both a contemporary and present day audience. In the same way Truffaut once suggested that we would all be gladly punished if being an adolescent were a crime, Antoine has so much build up around him and so much he is punished for without having anyone who will listen, that it is not difficult to feel as if he is being victimised slightly, that it all seems too easy. There is so much beauty, intelligence and internal angst in his character that is completely overlooked by characters in the film, due mainly to the brilliant acting of young Jean-Pierre Leaud. The film is now rightly considered a key player in French New Wave cinema and is still considered an important piece of film making since its release in 1957, doubly impressive since it marked Truffaut’s directorial debut.

The last events of the film accumulate in a pivotal breaking point where Antoine escapes the facility, moving as if he was born to run, until he reaches the sea, adulthood and an uncertain future in front of him and a life he can no longer go back to behind him. He looks into the camera, his face naive yet wise beyond its years, in an ultimate moment of adolescent disenchantment and turmoil.  Perfect.