"Four Hundred Strikes": Juvenile Cruel Sadness

Mae 2021-12-07 08:01:38

The greatness of a movie is definitely not because of its superiority, let alone its obscurity. Therefore, although the name "Four Hundred Strikes" may be unclear, and the title of "New Wave of French Cinema" is also prohibitive, it may be that after these artificial barriers, you have missed a full movie that you should not miss. Affectionate movie.

The first work of the new wave of French cinema was "Breakout" ("Exhausted") and the other was "Four Hundred Strikes". At the starting point of the New Wave (especially the "Cinema Manual") promoting film modernization, two different outlets have already been separated. One is to break the narrative model of classical films and use new film language and technology to impact Godard, who has already known about the film. His revolutionary propositions and technology stun the viewers. The rupture of narrative and emotion is always reminding people to enter. Subjective thinking.

But Truffau is different. Although he also broke the decadent narrative mode of the original film, he is more tender and calm. With unparalleled emotional sincerity, he constructed the ideological level of the "author's film". He can also be fancy, but he never wants to forget the eternal and unchanging emotional appeal of human beings. If expressed in one word, he is still sincere.

"Four Hundred Strikes" is a sincere movie that should not be missed. Forget its names, I will tell you, it is a movie about growth, it is the past of you and me, it is the cruel sadness of every teenager.

The twelve-year-old Antoine is a boy with clear eyes and a gentle heart. But his identity as an illegitimate child, the indifference of his mother and stepfather, and the rejection of his school teachers all pushed him to the road of rebellion. He couldn't bear the teacher's abuse at first, and he played truant with his friend Rene, only to meet his mother and his lover on a date. We can't imagine the trauma of this complex mind to the teenager. Then, Antoine who lied was slapped in the face by his stepfather and left home to steal the night in the printing factory. The temptation and intimidation of his mother's words made Antoine taste the gloom of the adult world.

He loves Balzac, but his composition was framed as plagiarism by his teacher; he returned the printer stolen from his stepfather's company, but was sent to the training center by his parents. The mother finally no longer tolerated the innocence and struggle of her own son. The decisive look in her face when she taught Antoine made us look cold. The instructor slapped Antoine cruelly, and slapped us coldly. Only when faced with the psychiatrist’s questioning, did we see the frail soul of a quiet but scarred teenager.

Film historians have a consensus that "Four Hundred Strikes" is almost a portrayal of Truffau's own teenager. He dedicated this film to André Bazin, the forerunner of the New Wave movement, and the person who brought Truffau from the predicament of a teenager to the world of movies. The language expresses tribute to Bazin and the film.

There are no ostentatious skills in this language, only heartbreaking sadness. The youth grew up in cruelty, and neither of you nor I escaped. Antoine, who ran away from home, wandered the streets before dawn. He wanted to steal a bottle of milk waiting to be transported away. He carefully tested it again and again. After he succeeded, he slowly drank up the satisfaction, which made people feel embarrassed. When he was taken by the police car to the training center, the sky was still dim, and under the dim street lights, we saw the silent tears of Antoine on his face. It seemed so long at that moment, as if it took us back to our youth.

Truffau also has special feelings for Antoine. He allowed him to grow up in his films and made the famous "Antoine Five Steps". Five films cover Antoine’s youth, youth and adulthood. Antoine has completed his growth in the film. He loves music, falls in love, loses love, and enters marriage... He is another Truffau in The image in the movie.

This image of course also belongs to Jean-Pierre Leo, the actor of Antoine, an extremely clear actor. For such a person born for Antoine, we cannot distinguish who is a substitute. Although Leo also filmed for Godard or other directors of the New Wave and became the most famous face of the New Wave, as long as we see his clean eyes, we will believe that he is just Antoine.

Four hundred strikes is a slang term in French, which roughly means that children must be beaten frequently, and you can't wait for four hundred strikes to be obedient. However, in Truffau's eyes, we saw a young boy who was growing up. The beauty was destroyed little by little, and the light was dim. The cruel reality in his heart was the price everyone had to pay.

This price urges us to grow, and the pain can only be endured by ourselves. When Antoine ran away from the training center to the beach, we did not see the happiness of freedom, only the confusion facing the camera. This ending, which has been appreciated and interpreted by countless people, seems to remind us that growth is a kind of heavy tolerance and a kind of relief that is forgotten and forgotten.

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Extended Reading
  • Clair 2021-12-07 08:01:38

    School, family, everything are reasons to escape. "Four hundred blows", desperately running toward the sea symbolizing freedom, but didn't want to be more difficult to move. Paris is particularly beautiful under Truffaut's lens, and the music is also very good. (TLF version of MiniSD subtitles are not good, but fortunately, some people have watched it dozens of times. It comes with a commentary audio track...)

  • Kris 2022-03-27 09:01:06

    Still like Joey in Little Fugitives, if the film's focus was on the educational system, parenting failures might be more appropriate.

The 400 Blows quotes

  • Examining Magistrate: I think we'd best put the boy in an observation center.

    Gilberte Doinel: Oh, could it be near the seashore, Your Honor?

    Examining Magistrate: It's not a vacation resort, ma'am.

  • Juvenile Delinquent: Every time I cried, my father would imitate me on his fiddle, just to drive me nuts. One day I got fed up and I knocked him out.