European cinema, the French Nouvelle Vague Cinema: Truffaut's representation of childhood/children in 400 Blows

Résumé du document

A French expression ?faire les Quatre Cents Coups' is a common idiom used to describe children who are very undisciplined and disorderly. If correctly reflected and cited, this idiom is an extension from the expression that derives the title of Truffaut's first real film Les Quatre Cents Coups (The Four Hundred Blows). This title is very appropriate with regard to the story of the film. The story centers around the life of a 13 year old boy Antoine Doinel (which is played by Jean-Pierre Léaud). Antoine grows up to be a very careless and a negligent boy. Because of this uncontrolled behavior, Antoine is finally arrested after stealing a typing machine. Nevertheless it should be understood that the intention of the film is not to promote delinquency. Above all, it is regarded as a realistic representation of children and their relationship with adults. It remains that this representation of childhood is undeniably complex, because childhood itself is multifaceted. Firstly we will see that the representation of children in the 400 Blows is a personal and pessimistic approach, as it is partly based on Truffaut's own unhappy and lonely childhood. Secondly we will analyze in detail the circumstances that led Truffaut to depict childhood in a disenchanted and realistic fashion. Thirdly we will discuss the idea that Truffaut's representation of childhood is pessimistic, and we will display that the film also appreciates the spontaneity of childhood in many respects.

Extraits

[...] “Thesis on the representation of children in the films of François Truffaut”. Quotations by Truffaut (including the quotations from Le Plaisir des Yeux and Le Cinéma selon François Truffaut that I used in the essay) www.wikipedia.org. 400 Blows”. Filmography The 400 Blows. Directed by François Truffaut. Starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Rémy, and Guy Decomble. France : 1959. Forbidden Games. Directed by René Clément. Starring Georges Poujouly, Brigitte Fossey, and Amédée. France: 1952. Small Change. Directed by François Truffaut. [...]

[...] As a conclusion ending of the film seems to encapsulate the two ideas that best describe Truffaut's representation of childhood in the 400 Blows. Indeed this scene epitomizes both the objectivity of the film and its lyricism. Besides it evidences how much new-fangled the film was. In the film, Truffaut strives to depict childhood as objectively as possible (from the point of view of Antoine himself). Nevertheless the 400 Blows remains also fundamentally personal, because it is linked to Truffaut's own childhood. [...]

[...] But Truffaut also opposed vigorously some idealized and fallacious representations of childhood as in René Clément's Forbidden Games for instance. But if Truffaut was influenced by many films, the 400 Blows was also one of the first French New Wave filmmakers. It was therefore a very influential and innovative film. So, for example, the scenes filmed on location (in the streets of Paris), and the high degree of realism that lead Truffaut to depict everyday life without any embellishment (the streets of Paris are shown dirty and very few monuments are delineated) are typical of the French New Wave. [...]

[...] Starring Geory Desmouceaux and Philippe Goldman. France: 1975. The Wild Child. Directed by François Truffaut. Starring François Truffaut and Jean-Pierre Cargol. France : 1970. [...]

[...] These scenes of the film are very powerful visually, and they underline the spontaneity of children that makes them so lovable. It epitomizes Truffaut's idea according to which “Filming chidren is not about understanding them, it's about loving them.” (Truffaut, Le Plaisir des yeux, 240). As a result Truffaut directed the 400 Blows simply because he loves children, rather than to criticize the French society. That is why he put the sincerity of children at the heart of the film. [...]