Ngozi Onyema
Film 3000
October 10, 2011
Film: The 400 Blows
TRT: 99 minutes
Language: French with English subtitles.
Date of film: 1959
Director: Francois Truffaut
Award: The Grand Prize at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival
The topic in Film Theory that is involved with this film is the French New Wave. Film makers of the French New Wave were highly critical of the glossy, formulaic and studio-bound French cinema of the 1940s and 1950s, but praised the work of the 1930s French film makers Jean Renoir and Jean Vigo and the work of the Italian neo-realists, including Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica. The goal of the French New Wave was to have cinema become as worthy of academic study as any other art form. Existentialism was also a major influence on the French New Wave. French New Wave incorporated working on location as opposed to in the studio. Light weight hand held cameras were used. Available light was preferred to studio-style lighting and available sound was preferred to extensive studio dubbing. Following characters down streets, cafes and shops were done in the French New Wave just as was in this film 400 Blows. Also long takes like when Antoine was running from the detention center was also a characteristic of French New Wave. The French New Wave also examined relationships and told humane stories.
In the article review of the film 400 Blows by Arlene Croce, Arlene compares the 400 Blows film to American cinema and points out the differences. She basically talks about how the 400 Blows film remains natural and authentic in its image of revolt. She feels that this is something lacking in American film and something that is needed. She goes on to point out many of the French New Wave characteristics Truffaut used in this film. In Roger Ebert’s review of the film 400 Blows he expresses his enjoyment of the film but does not go in to detail about the style of the film as Arlene Croce does. Roger Ebert’s article review delves more in to the life of Francois Truffaut.
The article by Arlene Croce expressed how Truffaut used the French New Wave in the film 400 Blows. Arlene says: “The most original feature of Truffaut’s beautifully oblique style of commentary is his by-now famous use of protracted sequences accomplished through the sustained single shot and through a minimum of cutting: the scene in the revolving drum, the long ride in the paddy wagon which encompasses the boys whole descent from innocence, and which I recall as one long close-up alternated with a single reverse-field shot; the extraordinary interview with the (off-screen) psychiatrist, in which there are no cuts, merely a series of unsettling dissolves; and the long tracking shot of the stupendous finale.” Ambiguity, another characteristic of the French New Wave is mentioned in Arlene Croce’s article as described in the film 400 Blows. Roger Ebert’s article review sort of sticks to reviewing the film based on genre and not on style detail. Ebert goes on to say: “Truffaut’s film is not a dirge or entirely a tragedy. There are moments of fun and joy.” Ebert mentions the part of the film when the family went to the movies and had laughs after. Those are the distinctions between the two articles and how they relate to the screening.
Personally I’ve learned allot about French Films specifically the French New Wave and I fell that this film 400 Blows is a great representation of the French New Wave. Although I am not a film maker or major I like the fact that the French are basically being creative in their film making. They are standing out from the norm in American cinema. There is a lot of detail in film that sometimes goes unnoticed. I am glad that I was able to experience those details by watching this fim, reading about French New Wave and doing this assignment.
Bibliography:
Ebert, Roger (1999, August 8). The 400 Blows (1959). Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved October 10, 2011 from http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19990808/REVIEWS08/908080301/1023
Croce, Arlene (1960, Spring). Review: Les Quatre Cents Coups. Film Quarterly, Vol. 13. No. 3. pp. 35 – 38. Retrieved October 10, 2011, from JSTOR Database also http://www.jstor.org/stable/1210434
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