The 400 Blows (1959)

François Truffaut’s free-wheeling debut, with Jean-Pierre Léaud as his rebel-schoolboy surrogate, is still a banner film for nouvelle vague lyric realism.

Together with the first films of Jean-Luc Godard and Claude Chabrol, both former colleagues of François Truffaut at the film journal Cahiers du Cinéma, the release in 1959 of this lyrical tale of childhood heralded the arrival of a younger generation of French filmmakers who would revitalise their staid national cinema.

Dedicated to André Bazin – co-founder of Cahiers du Cinéma and a champion of personal filmmaking – and made in the expressive, spontaneous spirit of 1930s director Jean Vigo, Truffaut’s film introduced his errant alter ego, Antoine Doinel (played by Jean-Pierre Léaud). Among Truffaut’s stylistic innovations, the most celebrated is the final freeze-frame which fixes Antoine’s expression as, having made a break for liberty, he gazes back into the camera, his future heartbreakingly uncertain.

“Respected, revered and taught in the academic curricula for a long time, the impression of The 400 Blows is one of your elders’ masterpieces you need to bear. Yet the film itself stubbornly defies all such preconditions, with its audacity, sincerity and the honesty of a kid who doesn’t want to be treated as a kid; cinema grows up as a result.” Vassilis Kroustallis

“Simply the greatest coming-of-age story in film history.” Elena Smolina

“Cinema as sanctuary.” Sukhdev Sandhu

“The 400 Blows is one of the greatest films to ever describe that angst towards life, family and societal hierarchical structures.” Nicola Marzano

1959 France
Directed by
François Truffaut
Written by
François Truffaut
Featuring
Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Rémy
Running time
94 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for The 400 Blows

Critics

Luciano Barisone
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Marten Blomkvist
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Olga Bobrowska
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Anchalee Chaiworaporn
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Carlo Chatrian
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Anupama Chopra
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Thomas C. Christensen
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Tóth Csaba
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Agnes Devictor
France
Laura Dos Santos
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Beatrice Fiorentino
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Ian Freer
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Marzia Gandolfi
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Charles Gant
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Leonardo García Tsao
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Sonia Genaitay
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Steph Green
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Wendy Ide
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Javier Ikaz
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Thierry Jobin
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Laura Kern
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Jack King
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Gabe Klinger
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Vassilis Kroustallis
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Annette Kuhn
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Antonio Mariotti
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Nicola Marzano
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Patrick McGilligan
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Roy Menarini
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Jerónimo Silvio Iglesias
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Janice Tong
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Directors

Giuseppe Pupi Avati
Italy
Anthony Chen
Singapore
Lucy Cohen
UK
Adoor Gopalakrishnan
India
Annemarie Jacir
Palestine
Paul Kelly
UK
- Kogonada
USA
Juho Kuosmanen
Finland
Mike Leigh
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Sebastián Lelio
Chile
Benjamin Naishtat
Argentina
Gary Oldman
Sumitra Peries
Sri Lanka
Cristi Puiu
Romania
Alonso Ruizpalacios
Mexico
Ming Liang Tsai
Taiwan
Clement Virgo
Canada
Heng Yang
China

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