Screening report on 400 blows - Essay Example

Screening Report: The 400 Blows (French Les Quatre Cents Coups) Submitted By: ***** Number: ****** ****** ***************Subject Code: *******Course name: ***********University of ********Introduction:The 400 Blows is originally a French movie. This movie has been directed by the famous director: François Truffaut. Although this movie has been produced way back in 1959, there have been a few essential aspects that have been covered in this movie. The story of this movie is based on a young boy called Antoine Doinel, from Paris.

Major Elements of the Movie:The movie starts with a calm and soothing portrayal of the city of Paris. A good use of music and lighting has been made in the movie. The Director has been able to capture a real feel of the life of the adolescents of the city. The story of this movie revolves around a young boy who is considered to be a trouble maker. This child is deprived of love from his parent and is constantly being shouted at by his parents, especially his mother. This movie is a semi – autobiography of the life of the director and his friend.

The style of shooting of the film displays the style of Truffaut. In this movie he had displayed very clearly the life of a young prankster. This movie apart from being about Antoine alone also highlights how the French ill – treated the injustice by the young at that time. There is a great portrayal of the how Antoine has been punished and criticized at both home and in school at every step. The poor child is punished all the time in school while his mother on the other end is strict and very demanding for him to help with the choirs at home.

Also the child faces a lot of discomfort since his family is very insecure financially, live in an extremely small apartment, with him having to sleep on a sleeping bag. Also his mother has a number of issues and agreements with his step father. He also realizes that his mum is having an affair with her co – worker. He takes this to himself and engages in childish mischief, until he and his friend are turned in to the police by his step father, for stealing the type writer from his office. The film ends with the child being sent to a work camp (on request of his mother) by the sea line.

The child is also sent to a psychiatrist as his parents deem him to be very mischievous and incurable. The director has been able to provide the movie with an excellent ending, where Antoine runs away from the work camp and is seen at the sea shore. The use of the camera is excellent as the movies ends with the cameras zooming into his face and to a great extent it seems like he is gazing into the faces of the audience. This seems to be the strongest point of the movie. The director has been able to rightly depict the look in his eyes.

A look of innocence and a look of sadness yet with a look of hope are depicted in the child’s eyes. The entire movie has excellent music and the cinematography is fresh and very real. Overall the movie has proved to be one of its kinds and this is seen by the fact that the movie has won the best movie award at the Cannes Film Festival.Perceptions:This movie highlights the life of an adolescent who is faced by a number of different issues both from family as well as from school. The different aspects of this movie is mainly that the movie has been made keeping in mind the general average family and also the movie has well incorporated the issue of how the French punished the young people who have committed any mistakes.

These are the two very strong points which distinguish the film to a great extent and provide the film with an edge over the others.