François Truffaut
I quattrocento colpi

The first feature film by François Truffaut presented at the 12th edition of the Cannes Festival where it received the Award for Best Director. It depicts a slice of the childhood/adolescence of Antoine Doinel, 13 years old, played by Jean-Pierre Léaud, who would become Truffaut's favorite actor and would portray the same character in four more films of the eponymous saga. In fact, he is the alter ego of the director himself, who in "The 400 Blows" seeks to encapsulate the essence of his restless and lonely childhood.

Born out of wedlock, thanks to the will of his grandmother – while the mother considered abortion. He would be raised alongside his putative father without love and affection, sluggishly in a very small apartment not far from the Eiffel Tower. In a state of near neglect, sleeping in a sleeping bag in the hallway of the house. The parents' interests – in the film, the father is a rally enthusiast, in reality, the couple were interested in mountaineering – often left him alone at home on weekends.

All this would result in poor school performance, a lack of interest in anything regulated and conventional, an unconscious need to attract the attention of adults. His only friend is his classmate René – incidentally, the real one comments on the film in the extras – a peer from a wealthy bourgeois family, but who doesn’t care for him: the mother is an alcoholic, the father is absent. The lack of attention and affection are therefore the primary bond. Besides the fact that René already sees in his friend the extraordinary person he will become.

Antoine lives a sort of resigned acceptance, even while “raising hell” – or, in French “les Quatre Cents Coups”, as the title suggests. He will run away from home, skip school, prefer the amusement park and the cinema, which he frequently attends with René, to the point of watching the same film for hours, competing to see how many shots it contains…

He will eventually end up in a reformatory, and there he will be finally and "physically" abandoned by his parents, who are relieved to be rid of him. And it will be from there that, not at all tamed, he will escape to see the sea for the first time. Perhaps a symbol of life, both on the surface and the unconscious depths.

At that point, the freeze frame and a slight zoom will emphasize Antoine's melancholy. Almost a pain, as he observes us from amidst the waves in his distressed sobriety.

The real René's commentary in the extras is beautiful, as is the Paris of that era, the streets, the glimpses of monuments, the early 2CV cars…. Striking is the freshness, the thrill of emotions, the touch of feelings. It makes one think about how fruitful the work of a minimal crew, with few means, a minimal budget has been, especially considering the coldness of certain films of today, with an army of collaborations and so much technology, and with the never-ending final credits…