Truffault's masterpiece. Timeless and true, heartbreakingly sad.
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08/25/09
The 400 Blows (1959)
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Reviews Counted:48
Fresh:48
Rotten:0
Average Rating:9.3/10
Consensus: A seminal French New Wave film that offers an honest, sympathetic, and wholly heartbreaking observation of adolescence without trite nostalgia.
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: Director François Truffaut's first feature film, THE 400 BLOWS, is a landmark in French cinema. Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) is a 13-year-old boy who can't seem to do anything right. His... [More]
Starring: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Rémy, Guy Decomble
Director: Francois Truffaut
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Reviews for The 400 Blows
François Truffaut's iconoclastic feature debut and one of the most enduring examples of the French New Wave.
04/23/09
What is there to say about The 400 Blows that hasn't already been said?
04/23/09
It's a cornerstone of the French New Wave, and one of the greatest movies about childhood, from anywhere, ever.
04/17/09
Henri Decae’s black and white photography helped Truffaut enormously but what the director himself provides is a sense that though there is no easy answer to the problems of growing up, there is a hope that will never be wholly denied.
04/17/09
Vibrant, visually exciting and emotionally resonant.
04/09/09
One of the first glistening droplets of the French New Wave.
04/09/09
Distinguished by its naturalistic, quasi-documentary approach and an extraordinary central performance from the 12-year-old Jean-Pierre Léaud, this is a blisteringly authentic story.
04/09/09
It's streetwise stuff, shot in a vigorous on-the-hoof style, but also full of joy, both in its blissfully comic moments and in Doinel's telling passion for moviegoing.
04/09/09
Alive with the joy of filmmaking for its own sake.
04/07/09
The 400 Blows, one of the initiating sparks of the French New Wave, ultimately boils down to the film's trendsetting coda, perhaps the most exclamatory question mark in movies.
03/27/09
An enduring masterpiece...Truffaut's autobiographical fiction shows an admirable equanimity by depicting the highs and lows of boyhood. [Blu-ray]
03/22/09
This should be required viewing for today’s droves of would-be memoirsts in film or any other medium, and otherwise is simply a must for anybody who likes great movies.
08/07/08
Seems forever young.
02/01/08
Top CriticClick to read the article
01/18/08
Francois Truffaut's debut film not only galvanized the Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) movement of French cinema, but also generated a personal language of cinema that Truffaut would elaborate on for the rest of his career.
10/20/07
Forget my curmudgeonly attitude and see it -- again, or for the first time -- for yourself.
09/27/07
Top CriticA remarkable confluence of talents are at work here.
09/27/07
Top CriticDistinguished by its intensity of feeling and freewheeling use of the wide-screen frame, the film ranks among Truffaut's best.
07/09/07
Top CriticAn engaging, moving film.
07/09/07
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