Part of Teenage Wasteland
François Truffaut’s first feature is also his most personal. Told through the eyes of Truffaut’s cinematic counterpart, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), THE 400 BLOWS sensitively re-creates the trials of Truffaut’s own childhood, unsentimentally portraying aloof parents, oppressive teachers and petty crime. The film marked Truffaut’s passage from leading critic to trailblazing auteur of the French New Wave.
“Let it be noted without contention that the crest of the flow of recent films from the ‘new wave’ of young French directors hit these shores yesterday with the arrival…of Françcois Truffaut…. For all his professional inexperience and his youthfulness (27 years), M. Truffaut has here turned out a picture that might be termed a small masterpiece…. Here is a picture that encourages an exciting refreshment of faith in films.” —Bosley Crowther, New York Times (Nov 17, 1959) “One of the most intensely touching stories ever made about a young adolescent….THE 400 BLOWS, with all its simplicity and feeling, is in a class by itself…. We sense that it was drawn directly out of Truffaut’s heart.” —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times “One of the most impressive debuts in film history….” —J. Hoberman, New York Times
