the 400 blows

Quinn 2021-12-07 08:01:38

Just after watching Truffaut's "400 blows" (the 400 blows), I was completely shocked. I don't watch many art movies. The last time I felt this way was when I watched Angelopoulos's "Wandering Artist". It is a sin to leave this disc idle for so long.

The ninety-nine-minute movie contains a wealth of content, and almost every shot contains the artist's wisdom and contemplation. I can only record some of my thoughts while watching the movie, because I am still in a state of shock and intoxication.

1. Movies about children are never dull.

2. Children don't like to be with adults. When they must stay within the sight of adults, they will restrain, pretend, lie and even resist. However, when only children stayed together, they would do things like adults, watching movies, making chicks, smoking cigars, drinking, betting on backgammon, stealing things, and even looking for prostitutes.

Probably every child is willing to become an adult, but the existence of adults in reality makes them feel that they are too far from their goals, so they are more willing to be company with "adults" of the same grade.

3. My favorite scenes.

(1) The rapidly spinning picture in the large centrifuge. The spinning machine, the juvenile's easy game and happy face.

(2) The innocent and devoted expressions of the children in the Muppet Theater. When I saw this, I didn’t think I was happy.

(3) Go to the gym class for running on the street. The children ran away one by one. The physical education teacher couldn't jog, stretched his chest and made persistent whistles, as well as the last two students following the teacher. The long overhead shot shows the happiest thing in school life-skipping classes.

(4) When the criminal who throws the typewriter and the criminal who sells the stolen goods have a dispute, they threaten to protect their rights through the police and succeed. Black humor, black wisdom.

(5) "Left hand or right hand?" A slap slapped Antoine, who was depressed because of his arrest, and also woke me up-until this moment, I felt that the correctional facility was a place to train gentlemen.

(6) A friend's betrayal hurt Antoine's heart, and his mother's abandonment strengthened Antoine's heart. I believe that when he ran away, he did not think about escape from the correctional facility, nor did he think about where to escape, he just wanted to escape from the "status quo."

(7) The face of Antoine at the end of the film. What did he see? What did his eyes show?

4. There is no evil conspiracy, no inhuman persecution in the film. It is all stories of ordinary people, ordinary people’s misunderstandings and ordinary people’s philosophy of life, but they persecute a child like this.

Finally, I want to emphasize that the works of real masters should be like this.

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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.