The 400 Blows

The 400 Blows, released in 1959, was Francois Truffant's first feature film and the first to feature his on screen "alter ego" Antoine Doinel (played by Jean-Pierre Leaud), who would make appearances in four more Truffant films. In The 400 Blows, we find ourselves observing Doinel's everyday life as a young teenager. He is a poor student who is frequently ridiculed by his teacher (ridicule which is not always deserved) and is stuck in an antagonistic relationship with his parents, who are struggling to get by as it is. He has vague ambitions of seeing the ocean.

Much as The Catcher in the Rye's Holden Caulfield could be taken as a loose portrait of Salinger, Doinel, as mentioned, was certainly Truffant on celluloid. After the film had concluded, I couldn't help finding some similarities between the two characters; Doinel, to me, seemed to be a loose parallel to Caulfield, except younger and French. Doinel's behavior, like Caulfield's, seems to act as a form of protection against the perceived unfairness he finds himself surrounded by, and it is not entirely his fault. While not the best student, there are times when the scorn he receives from his teacher is unwarranted (specifically at the beginning when he is reprimanded for having a picture of a pinup girl). In addition, he is regarded coldly by his mother (who confides in his stepfather that she finds Doinel "annoying"), and he catches her kissing another man on the street one day while cutting school. His stepfather, though mostly friendly, is shown to have a bit of a tempter at times, and constantly fights with Doinel's mother. Doinel later reveals to a therapist that his mother originally didn't want to have him, and that he was to have been aborted before his grandmother stepped in. The knowledge and consequences of these events have shaped Doinel into a sort of antihero, one who we as a viewer want to see succeed but on another level find it hard at times to get behind.

One reoccurring theme I noticed in the film was Doinel running away from or isolating himself from authority. This, combined with his wanting to see the ocean and completed with his finally reaching the sea at the end of the film, is rather significant as he spends most of the movie fleeing those he feels have alienated him, only to finally reach the symbol of ultimate freedom and directionless wandering, the ocean. The film ends on a freeze frame, a still of Doinel facing the camera. The ending is somewhat ambiguous in that we don't know how the story ends for Doinel, but we can assume that based on the music playing, and the fact that the film ends with the ocean and facial shot and never hints at any other misfortunes waiting for Doinel (perhaps that he is being chased, etc) that, for now, Doinel is free from his spotted past, and free to run where he pleases.