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01/01/00
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
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
Forget my curmudgeonly attitude and see it -- again, or for the first time -- for yourself.
09/27/07
Top CriticIt's a cornerstone of the French New Wave, and one of the greatest movies about childhood, from anywhere, ever.
04/17/09
[Truffaut's} eye for telling detail is unrivaled...
01/01/00
Amazingly, this vigorous effort is the first feature film of M. Truffaut, who had previously been (of all things!) the movie critic for a French magazine.
05/20/03
No review available.
08/22/03
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
Truffault's masterpiece. Timeless and true, heartbreakingly sad.
08/25/09
Distinguished by its intensity of feeling and freewheeling use of the wide-screen frame, the film ranks among Truffaut's best.
07/09/07
Top CriticA movingly sympathetic and perceptive portrayal about an unwanted rebellious adolescent.
06/07/05
Still one of the cinema's most perceptive forays into childhood.
01/26/06
Truffaut's brilliant debut, one of the seminal works of the New Wave, is a captivating autobiographical chronicle of a troubled youth, played by Jean-Pierre Leaud, Truffaut's alter-ego who will star in four more segments of the Antoine Doinel's saga.
12/18/05
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
No review available.
07/08/04
No review available.
03/27/04
No review available.
08/24/05
For all of Truffaut's mastery of the behind-the-camera aspects of The 400 Blows, an equal share of the credit must go to lead actor Jean-Pierre Léaud.
08/01/02
Top CriticLéaud's performance is a marvel in the way he conveys Antoine's frustration with the world around him and the inability of adults to understand him.
05/30/03
A landmark in modern cinema.
04/17/01
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