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

Film	Year	Director
Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum	1975	Volker Schlöndorff, Margarethe von Trotta
Spring in a Small Town	1948	Fei Mu
The Deer Hunter	1978	Michael Cimino
A Woman under the Influence	1974	John Cassavetes
ZIEMIA OBIECANA	1974	Andrzej Wajda
When the Wind Blows	1986	Jimmy Teru Murakami
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence	1982	Nagisa Oshima
Johnny Guitar	1954	Nicholas Ray
The 400 Blows	1959	François Truffaut
EUROPA EUROPA	1990	Agnieszka Holland

Olga Bobrowska

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