The 400 Blows film as literature review

The 400 Blows Film as Literature Review


The film was extremely effective. The purpose of watching it in class was not to watch a movie for entertainment, it was to further our understanding of memoirs and film as literature. I learned that memories can be retold in the form of text, film, or recorded dialogue. I also learned that memories can be told from the point of view of the memoirist, another friend, or a hired editor. By watching The 400 Blows as an example, I am now able to look for and pick out certain aspects of a film that help add to the emotions the director is trying to convey. I also enjoyed this activity because I learned to appreciate films and movies for the deeper meaning like literature. It was easy for me to be attentive because I was interested and engaged by it.
The plot revolves around Antoine, the vision of director Francois Truffaut as a youth, and his relationships between his mother, schoolmates, teachers, and the law. Antoine resists and rebels against authority, so his relationships with any authority figure in the storyline are full of tension. He runs away from home, lies to the teacher, and steals to create an image for himself that he can do whatever he wants regardless of the consequences. Antoine has a friend Renee who has his own tension filled relationships with authority, and together they romp around Paris skipping school and disobeying the nation’s, the teacher’s, and their parents laws. There is a reoccurring theme of freedom in this film. The freedom is shown by the same song with same instruments being replayed whenever Antoine is free from people telling him what to do, or whenever he is doing what those people tell him what not to do. Another theme is loneliness. Antoine is lonely and remedies it by rebelling to get attention. Antione’s Mom is lonely and remedies it by finding another man to give attention to. Renee is lonely because his parents are never home and remedies it by doing rebellious things with rebellious friends. The film is scripted from Truffaut’s point of view through the character of Antoine.
The casting director of The 400 Blows was right on key with the decisions he or she made. The actor portraying Antoine had an innocent but guilty nature to him, a cute face then the camera cuts to the cute face smoking a cigar. The actress portraying Antoine’s mother had a glamorous feel about her, but the character was not glamorous at all. The actor portraying Antoine’s teacher acted seriously, but he was so serious that you wanted to laugh at him and make him the butt of a bad joke for being so unreasonable and obnoxious. A huge topic of debate for me was the lighting, was it intentional or coincidental? A key example of lighting contrast was when Antoine was locked up in the holding cell in the same room as police officers and fellow convicts the lights were bright. When he was moved in an armored car to the solitary cell the lights were much darker. Also when he and Renee were in Renee’s room the lighting was dim and when Antoine and his parents were driving to go see the movie the lights were bright.
The cinematic aspects of photography and sound were so crucial to this film that anyone not looking for them would have spotted them. All of the camera shots where Antoine was running were long to show that he had a long way to run to be rid of all that he was trying to escape, and they were close up so that the watcher could not see where Antoine was headed until he got there. Another shot commonly used was the birds eye view shot, used to show the gym class running around Paris and Antoine and Renee misbehaving in Renee’s room. The significance of the shot was to give you the watcher a third person omniscient point of view; to impersonalize the neglect the gym teacher was feeling and the guilt that the watcher would be feeling for Antoine and Renee. Another cinematic aspect was sound. In the scenes where Antoine is speaking to his mother, her voice is quiet, creating a passive feeling. On the other hand, when Antoine is speaking to is teacher, the words are loud, creating a feeling of fear.
Both Antoine and Richard Wright are opposed to authority. In The 400 Blows, Antoine has trouble in school and has steals. In Black Boy, Richard has trouble in school and steals. This, however, does not make them the same. Antoine shows his opposition to authority by going against the rules sneakily, secretly smoking, and under the radar. Richard shows his opposition by fighting back and being defensive, quitting the kitchen maid job.
This film was wonderful to watch. It was engaging, had a good storyline, and the English subtitles made it intriguing. I recommend that when you watch this film, you look for the song that is played throughout the film, the long wide camera shots, the light contrast, and the volume levels. When you are done watching the film and reflect upon those four specific elements, they will be quite prominent to the emotional significance that Francois Truffaut, the director, is trying to convey with this work of art.