The 400 Blows
Les Quatre Cents Coups
While viewing The 400 Blows I felt engaged. I thought this 1959 film would be a bit slow moving and hard to follow because the dialogue is French. I am happy to say I feel the complete opposite due to the story line and visual style. The film is about an adolescent boy who always seems to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time constantly. The director, Francois Truffaut makes you feel for the boy, and wish you could help him throughout. The great thing about this film is that many of the characters are dynamic rather than static. You see their true characteristics which evokes emotions for the viewer.
The movie touches on many important issues such as education, moral values, punishment, etc. It's interesting to watch how the characters react to certain situations while still leaving you guessing. When watching, I was able to put myself in some of those situations and wonder what I would do. For example, Antoine Doniel, the boy in the film, witnesses his mother kissing a different man other than his father. He was skipping class at the time, so they were both in awkward situations they knew were wrong. If it was Antoine I would have to decide if I would tell my father or not.
The movie has a lot of great visuals, which help you to connect with the film. This was said to be director, Francois Truffaut specialty.He uses a variety of camera angles that bring life to the film. He uses many high and low angles. An example of a low angle was when Antoine was on a carnival ride when skipping school. The camera was aimed downward on the spinning ride. This allowed you to feel like you were spinning with the ride. It was a very interesting shot. Throughout the film the camera is also shot high. Truffaut does this to show the city and the surroundings. Truffaut does an excellent job of doing closeups to show character emotion as well. The film is designed in a very aesthetic way that makes you feel involved. It is definitely a must see!
This is an excellent reflection on The 400 Blows. You address the movie on a number of levels: from a visual/technical stance, an emotional one, and even thematically. You are demonstrating strong engagement!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your review on the film. I found myself feeling similarly to you while watching this film. It was very emotionally engaging and I too enjoyed watching the reactions, yet there was more that we didn't really see or know. What a great blog!
ReplyDelete-Casey Scheibengraber
I really enjoyed your presentation prior to the film and your review of the film! Your presentation highlighted things I should watch for in the film and made it easy to pick out. I also agree that the film was emotionally engaging, the viewer gets to know the boy and feel bad for him as well as seeing other characters evolve.
ReplyDelete-Amanda Roloff
Your review is very accurate, wonderfully describing how I'm sure many of us reacted to this film. It was a pleasant surprise for those of us with little experience watching French new wave film. You nicely put how Truffaut's style makes the film connect on an emotional level.
ReplyDelete-April Moraza
I like that your review incorporated Truffaut's use of camera angles and how they set the tone and mood of the the movie as well as conveying stronger emotions with the characters. Thinking back about the film, the way he shot it was just as important as the dialog and plot. It helped enhance the film. I like that you felt that you could put yourself in the place of some of the characters in order to see that none of these characters were static or flat. Each one was round and complex.
ReplyDelete-Wendie Spengler