Cheap The 400 Blows - Criterion Collection (DVD) (Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy) (François Truffaut) Price

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Customer Reviews of The 400 Blows - Criterion Collection

Jean-Pierre Leaud is terrific as Antoine Doinel, a lonely Parisian boy who lives with his neglectful mother and flaky step-father. At school, Doinel has become a target of wrath for his sadistic English teacher. Doinel begins to hang out more and more with his deliquent friend. Together, they skip school, go to the amusement park, and watch films (the young Truffaut was an avid movie watcher).

Truffaut's Paris is certainly not a friendly place for children. Parents are neglectful and teachers are more interested in bringing students into line than in teaching. Indeed Doinel's English teacher seems to believe in harsh punishments over the most minor offense. The more the world tries to bring Doinel into line, the more he is compelled to rebel. Finally, Doinel steals a typewriter to be pawned to pay for his escape from home. Having a change of conscience, he tries to returns it, but is caught and sent to a home for juvenile delinquents.

Truffaut directs this semi-autobiographaphical film with great feeling, showing us the humor, triumph, and most of all sadness of his tragic childhood. The widescreen black & white photography of Paris is beautiful so be sure to see this letterboxed.

A classic, heartfelt coming of age story
In Francois Truffaut's debut, award winning film, he paints visually the pain and joy of childhood, through a semi-autobiographical account of a 13 year old boy living in France. Antoine, lives with his mother and father in an apartment, on minimum finance. He gets into trouble at school, time after time, and at home his parents punish him, but at heart, he is a good kid. He decides to run away, but his parents find him, and they begin to treat him nicer. But when he gets suspended from school, he runs away for good. He begins stealing, and he gets caught. After he stays at a special home for juvenile delinquents, he escapes and his spirit prevails. This story is very moving, and entertaining. You get pulled into the young boy's life, and can relate with him. After you see how he keeps hope and prevails, it creates a warm feeling, and inspires you. The direction is perfect, and the director won the Best Director at Cannes Film Festival. I highly recommend those who wish to watch a fun, entertaining tale of hope and faith in the face of seemingly endless problems. 5 stars.

400 Blows
I've spent decades avoiding THE 400 BLOWS, afraid it was either dark and brooding, or a documentation of child abuse (physical and/or emotional), or an angry and vindictive assault on the authors' of Francois Truffaut's traumatic childhood.
I shouldn't have worried. THE 400 BLOWS is a gentle and compassionate movie. It isn't overwhelmed by its anger, although a few characters, particularly the coming-of-age hero's mother and his school teacher, aren't terribly sympathetic. Being new to THE 400 BLOWS, I found the commentary by Premiere magazine film critic Glen Kenny especially helpful in understanding French New Wave cinema in general and Truffaut in particular. By the way, according to Kenny "400 blows" refers to a French colloquialism similar to the American "paint the town red." It means to give oneself over to every type of excess, and raise a little heck in the process.