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400 Blows

The 400 Blows

Les Quatre cents coups

François Truffaut


  • Country: France
  • Year: 1959
  • Language: French
  •  
  • Runtime: 99 min.

The definitive coming-of-age film, François Truffaut's enduring and endearing first feature heralded the arrival of the French New Wave.

Cinematheque

screening times

    • Friday October 22
    • 6:45:00 PM
    • Tiff Bell LightBox Cinema 4
    • Saturday October 23
    • 7:45:00 PM
    • Tiff Bell LightBox 3

Note: indicates Premium Screening.

official description

NEW PRINT!

The definitive coming-of-age film, François Truffaut's enduring and endearing first feature heralded the arrival of the French New Wave. Drawing from his own misspent youth, Truffaut follows the misadventures of twelve-year-old Antoine Doinel (cinema icon Jean-Pierre Léaud, who would play Doinel from defiant child to lovestruck teenager to still-lovestruck adult in four more films for Truffaut) as he attempts to escape from the indifference and brutality of his parents, turns to petty thievery, and ends up in a reformatory. Infusing lived-in naturalism, dazzlingly ostentatious style, incessant movie references and ardent movie love into its celebration of rebellious youth, The 400 Blows was a joyous and defiant clarion call for a new generation of filmmakers. "What matters is that for the first time a young film has been officially designated by the powers that be to reveal the true face of the French cinema to the entire world" (Jean-Luc Godard).

Thanks to Sarah Finklea and Fumiko Takagi, Janus Films.

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