The 400 Blows

Except for one.

The film is famously semi-autobiographical. It follows (played by a mesmerizing Jean-Pierre Léaud the 400 blows

Truffaut himself had a troubled childhood, was sent to a reformatory, and was rescued by film critic André Bazin (to whom the film is dedicated). Antoine’s pain feels lived-in, not performed. Except for one

The 400 Blows is the defining film of the French New Wave ( Nouvelle Vague ). It was the debut feature of François Truffaut, a former film critic who turned the camera onto his own troubled childhood. Raw, honest, and deeply empathetic, the film tells the story of Antoine Doinel, a misunderstood boy in Paris who acts out because he cannot find love or understanding at home or school. Antoine’s pain feels lived-in, not performed

The film follows (Jean-Pierre Léaud), a 12-year-old boy in Paris. He’s a sensitive but restless child neglected by his self-absorbed mother and stepfather. Antoine skips school, lies to cover for his father, and steals a typewriter to return it (hoping for praise) — but is caught. His parents turn him over to the police, and he’s sent to a juvenile observation center. The film ends with his escape and a haunting freeze-frame of Antoine at the sea he’s never seen.