Introduction: The 400 Blows / Les Quatre cents coups
 France, 1959; in French with English subtitles; Run time: 99 min.
NOT Rated - Cora's guess: PG-13? See also IMDb's "Parents Guide for Les quatre cents coups (1959)."
 Director: François Truffaut
 b. 1932, Paris, France  - d. 1984, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France, of a brain tumor
Critic, Director, Screenwriter, Actor, Producer
 URL of this web page: http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/FA125/The400Blows1959/introThe400Blows.htm

"I want a film I watch
to express either
the joy of making cinema
or the anguish
of making cinema.
. . . I am not interested in
. . . films that don't vibrate"
--François Truffaut
(qtd. in "Biography" [of François Truffaut]).

Actor Jean-Pierre Léaud,
Les Quatre cents coups, 1959
("Photos")

MLA Style Works Cited bibliographical entry:

The 400 Blows. [French: Les Quatre cents coups.]  Dir. François Truffaut. Perf. Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Rémy, Patrick Auffay. Les Films du Carrosse, S.E.D.I.F., MK2, 1959. Janus Films: The Criterion Collection, 2006. DVD.

Filmography Information

The 400 Blows. French: Les Quatre cents coups  - Film first released: 1959
Director: François Truffaut 
Producers: François Truffaut and Georges Charlot 
 Screenplay Writers: François Truffaut and Marcel Moussey
Cinematographer/Director of Photography: Henri Decaë
Editor: Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte
Production Companies: Les Films du Carrosse, S.E.D.I.F., MK2
DVD: Janus Films: The Criterion Collection, 2006.

Main Characters & Performers:
Antoine Doinel [main character / protagonist] played by Jean-Pierre Léaud
Gilberte Doinel [Antoine's mother] played by Claire Maurier
Julien Doinel [Antoine's step-father] played by Albert Rémy
René Bigey [Antoine's best friend] played by Patrick Auffay
French School Teacher ["Little Quiz"] played by Guy Decomble
Learn more about the film & its director from IMDb: Internet Movie Database:

Quatre cents coups, Les (1959)
 URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053198/

François Truffaut [b. 1932 - d. 1984]
URL: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000076/

Learn more from IMDb's collection of "External" Film Reviews, which may be accessed by following links provided on this web page:

External Reviews for Quatre cents coups, Les (1959).
URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053198/externalreviews

Title, Setting & Filming Locations

TITLE: According to various sources, "faire les quatre cents coups" is a French slang expression that means "to make mischief" or '"to get into trouble" or "to raise hell" or "to sow one's wild oats."  Film critic Dan Scheider also speculates that "four hundred blows are metaphoric for the knocks that young [Antoine] Doinel takes . . ." but his editor offers this etymology for the title allusion:

Faire les 400 coups means "to party," "to be up to all sorts of mischief," or "to live without abid[ing] by laws and rules." The expression originated from the 400 cannon shots that Catholic French King Louis XIII fired on the mostly protestant city of Montauban in 1621. The city's inhabitants, however, didn't surrender. Hence the expression. (qtd. in Scheider)

SETTING & Filming LOCATIONS: The film is set primarily in the post-World War II era Paris, France (i.e. after 1945 but before 1959).  Most of The 400 Blows / Les quatre cents coups was filmed in various Paris locations ("Filming Locations"), except for the closing reform school segment, set in Honfleur ("Filming Locations"), a small sea coast town located in the northern French province of Normandy. 

Film Synopsis & Significance

According to Jason Korsner, film critic for BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation):

   This film [The 400 Blows] is a landmark in modern cinema, launching the French New Wave and turning François Truffaut from a critic into one of the world's most distinguished film makers.
   12-year-old Antoine Doinel lives in a tiny flat with his mother and stepfather, who are poor and generally inattentive. A ruthlessly domineering teacher makes life at school more unbearable than at home. [Antoine's] only escape from the shackles of everyday life is to bunk off school with his one friend, go to the fairground, or visit the cinema. His problems deepen as frustration, desperation, and loneliness lead to his expulsion from school and subsequent running away from home.
   There are two outstanding talents in the film. As Antoine Doinel, the young Jean-Pierre Léaud delivers a tremendously deep, sympathetic, and convincing performance in the role which he would reprise four times in the following 20 years. And Truffaut himself, in his first feature, displays the directorial flair that would make him such an influential auteur. Take, for example, a remarkably revealing scene in which Antoine opens up to a psychologist: it's shot from her point of view, with Antoine confessing his feelings directly into the camera.
   The 400 Blows is more than semi-autobiographical. Both Antoine and the young Truffaut were social outcasts - failures at school, who turned to delinquency, ran away from home, and ended up in custody. But most significantly, as would become apparent throughout Truffaut's career, the one thing that made their lives worth living was their passion for cinema.

MEMORABLE DIALOGUE from Les Quatre cents coups:

Psychiatrist: Your parents say you're always lying.
Antoine Doinel: Oh, I lie now and then, I suppose. Sometimes I'd tell them the truth and they still wouldn't believe me, so I prefer to lie.
("Memorable Quotes for Quatre cents coups, Les")
ANTOINE DOINEL as RECURRING CHARACTER in some of Truffaut's LATER FILMS: Truffaut went on to chronicle the later youth and adulthood of his semi-autobiographical character Antoine Doinel, played by the same actor Jean-Pierre Léaud, in the following films: the "Antoine and Colette" episode of Love at Twenty (1962), Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1970) and Love on the Run (1979)
("Biography" [of François Truffaut]).

Works Cited & Other Recommended Sources

"Biography" [of François Truffaut]. Variety Profiles. Variety. Web. 1 Apr. 2009. <http://www.variety.com/profiles/people/Biography/1028258/
Francois+Truffaut.html?dataSet=1>.

Conomos, John. "Truffaut's The 400 Blows, or the Sea, Antoine, the Sea." Senses of Cinema 6 (May 2000). Web. 1 Apr. 2009. <http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/
contents/00/6/blows.html>.

Crowther, Bosley. "Screen: The 400 Blows: A Small Masterpiece from France Opens." Rev. of The 400 Blows (1959), dir. François Truffaut. New York Times 17 Nov. 1959. Web. 1 Apr. 2009. <http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D07E7D71531EE3BBC4F52DFB7678382649EDE>.

Ebert, Roger.  Rev. of The 400 Blows (1959), dir. François Truffaut. Chicago Sun-Times 8 Aug. 1999. Web. 1 Apr. 2009. <http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/
pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19990808/REVIEWS08/908080301/1023>.

Ellis, Jack C., and Virginia Wright Wexman. "Films of the Auteurs: The French New Wave and After, 1954--." A History of Film. 5th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2002. 220-252. Print.

"External Reviews for Quatre cents coups, Les (1959)." IMDb: The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com-Amazon.com,1990-2010. Web. 1 Apr. 2009. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053198/externalreviews>.

"Filming Locations for Les quatre cents coups (1959)." IMDb: The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com-Amazon.com,1990-2010. Web. 27 Mar. 2010.  <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053198/locations>.

The 400 Blows. [French: Les Quatre cents coups.]  Dir. François Truffaut. Perf. Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Rémy, Patrick Auffay. Les Films du Carrosse, S.E.D.I.F., MK2, 1959. Janus Films: The Criterion Collection, 2006. DVD.

"François Truffaut." IMDb: The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com-Amazon.com,1990-2009. Web. 1 Apr. 2009. <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000076/>.

Gonzáles A., Juan Carlos. "François Truffaut." Trans. Tristan Vasquez. Jan. 2003. Senses of Cinema: Great Directors, A Critical Database. Web. 22 Dec. 2008. <http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/truffaut.html>. 

Korsner, Jason. Rev. of The 400 Blows  (Les Quatre Cents Coups) (1959), dir. François Truffaut. BBC Film Reviews 26 Feb. 2001. Web. 1 Apr. 2009. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/02/28/400_blows_1959_review.shtml>.

"Memorable Quotes for Quatre cents coups, Les (1959)." IMDb: The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com-Amazon.com,1990-2009. Web. 1 Apr. 2009. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053198/quotes>.

Neupert, Richard. "The French New Wave: New Stories, Styles and Auteurs." Traditions in World Cinema.  Ed. Linda Badley, R. Barton Palmer, and Steven Jay Schneider. New Bruswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 2006. 41-51. Print.

"Photos: Les quatre cents coups (1959)." IMDb: The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com-Amazon.com,1990-2009. Web. 1 Apr. 2009. <http://www.imdb.com/media/rm4037448704/tt0053198>.

"Parents Guide for Les quatre cents coups (1959)." IMDb: The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com-Amazon.com,1990-2010. Web. 27 Mar. 2010. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053198/parentalguide>.

"Les quatre cents coups (1959)." IMDb: The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com-Amazon.com,1990-2010. Web. 27 Mar. 2010. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053198/>.

Scheider, Dan.  "The 400 Blows by François Truffaut." 2007. Alternative Film Guide. 2008. Web. 22 Dec. 2008. <http://www.altfg.com/blog/archives/2007/03/09/the-400-blows-1959-by-francois-truffaut-dvd-review/>.

Some film sequences may be re-viewed online on YouTube.com
(perhaps useful viewing reminders though the quality is poor):

The 400 Blows and Its Admirers [1st 3 min. = Opening Title Sequence / Credits]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlmt1KYshmU
Los 400 Golpes [Opening Title Sequence /Credits]: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAVOnIVrHfo&NR=1

Les Quatre cents coups - Physical Education Lesson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2qaiunRemc&feature=PlayList&p=A628E7A80CE6DF49&index=3
Physical Education Lesson (the disappearing Gym class):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2qaiunRemc&NR=1

The Puppet Show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTi4wuW-vXA&NR=1

The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959) The Ending: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ0Bi_5TNuc&feature=PlayList&p=A628E7A80CE6DF49&index=0
The Ending:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ0Bi_5TNuc

The 400 Blows [Trailer]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmphI4sJp6k
Criterion Trailer 5: The 400 Blows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYCD1IBzzC0

La Nouvelle Vague (2007) Part Two
(in French with English subtitles; run time: 10:45)
URL:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcZfz_Q6G2A&feature=PlayList&p=A628E7A80CE6DF49&index=13

1950 post-WWII France: previously banned films became available & thrilled young Truffaut;  1951: André Bazin founds magazine Cahiers du cinéma [Cinema Notebooks];
1954: 22-year-old François Truffaut publishes "A Certain Tendency of French Cinema,"
attacking conventional French studio filmmaking & formulating "la politique des auteurs"
 - the auteur theory - calling for directors to make films of personal artistic expression
telling stories true and new as acts of love. 
1959: Truffaut's first film, The 400 Blows, "a semi-autobiographical story of youth," brought
French "New Wave" cinema international attention & acclaim.

YOU ARE HERE ~ Introduction: The 400 Blows / Les Quatre cents coups
 URL: http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/FA125/The400Blows1959/introThe400Blows.htm
Last updated: 23 April 2010

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