Essential Art House: The 400 Blows

UPC: 715515042413

Studio: Criterion

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Suitable for Teens]

Summary: 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. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best British Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Cannes Film Festival Best Foreign Film – New York Film Critics Circle

Features: Two Audio Commentaries, one by Cinema Professor Brian Stonehill and another by Fran?ois Truffaut's lifelong friend Robert Lachenay

Rare audition footage of Jean-Pierre L?aud, Patrick Auffay, and Richard Kanayan

Newsreel footage of L?aud in Cannes for the showing of The 400 Blows

Excerpt from a TV program in which Truffaut discusses his youth, his critical writings, and the origins of Antoine

TV Interview with Truffaut about the global reception of The 400 Blows and his own critical impression of the film

Theatrical Trailer
Plus: An essay by film scholar Annette Insdorf

Essential Art House: The 400 Blows

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 03/24/2009

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Runtime: 99 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) French

Subtitles: English

Lucia Bozzola

Dedicating the film to his mentor Andr? Bazin, 27-year-old critic-turned-director Fran?ois 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). ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Renaud Fontanarosa  Actor 
Pierre Repp  Actor 
Jean-Claude Brialy  Actor 
Marius Laurey  Actor 
Jacques Demy  Actor 
Folco Jacques Monod  Actor 
Serge Moati  Actor 
Yvonne Claudie  Actor 
Claude Mansard  Actor 
Jeanne Moreau  Actor 
Luc Andrieux  Actor 
Georges Flament  Actor 
Richard Kanayan  Actor 
Henri Virlojeux  Actor 
Christian Brocard  Actor 
Jean Douchet  Actor 
Daniel Couturier  Actor 
François Truffaut  Actor 
François Truffaut  Director 
François Truffaut  Producer 
François Truffaut  Screenwriter 
Marcel Moussy  Screenwriter 
Jean Constantin  Composer (Music Score) 
Jean-Pierre Léaud  Actor 
Robert Beauvais  Actor 
Claire Maurier  Actor 
Albert Remy  Actor 
Guy Decomble  Actor 
Patrick Auffay  Actor 

Country: France