Textual Analysis of The 400 Blows: The Landmark of New Wave - Movie Review Example

Textual Analysis of The 400 Blows: The Landmark of New Wave Introduction: It was in the late 1950s and 1960s when the French cinema witnessed a revolution of change and development. The development was in its cinematic form and film techniques. The most creditable factor of the transformation was the emergence of the New Wave in French cinema. A group of spirited filmmakers began the revolution in French cinema with a new form of European art cinema greatly influenced by Italian Neorealism and Hollywood classic cinema. The cinematic style of the New Wave filmmakers brought a fresh look to cinema with improvised dialogue, rapid scene changes and tracking shots, use of existential themes, and more emphasis on money and production value. Among the revolutionary French filmmakers, François Truffaut is a remarkable name. His The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups in French) released in 1959 is a prominent film portraying all the characteristic traits of the New Wave movement. This paper addresses the significance of the New Wave movement in French cinema. It emphasizes on The 400 Blows by Truffaut and discusses the relevant aspects of the New Wave movement featured in this film. Above all, the paper focuses on a textual analysis of the film. Review of French New Wave cinema: With the arrival of the New Wave, French cinema experienced a new era of revolution. The New Wave movement was a cultural phenomenon resulted from the economic, political, aesthetic and social trends developed in the 1950s. Growth of film criticism shaped a new group of filmmakers who were inspired by the concept of change. Besides, the New Wave also witnessed technological innovations in motion-picture cameras and sound recorders (Neupert, 3). During the 1950s, France was undergoing a remarkable industrial growth and self-evaluation that influenced cinema and its place in the larger national sphere. There are a number of factors affecting the transformative change in French cinema including: political conservatism, consumerism, television, ciné clubs, popular film journals, and above all, a new generation of filmmakers (Neupert, 4). While discussing the new generation of film producers, some of the prominent pioneers of the new age filmmakers are François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Eric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette and Claude Chabrol. One of the most prominent source of influence in the movement is the practice of film criticism by the above filmmakers in the famous film magazine Cahiers du cinéma. To some extent, the early years of the New Wave movement can be described as the practice of the Cahiers writers who mainly attacked the classic style of French cinema. The critics also developed the Auteur theory arguing that the director is the ‘author’ of his movies, with his personal signature prominent throughout his movies. In terms of style and techniques, New Wave movies feature remarkable methods of expression. The movies also have existential themes. As importance of money and production value was high, most of the filmmakers favored producing low-budget movies with stylistic cinematography. Some of the important features of the New Wave films as discussed by Neupert (2007) are: Long tracking shots (the famous traffic jam sequence in Godard’s Week End released in 1967) Handheld camera shots by the new smaller cameras External filming instead of studio shots Jump cuts or rapid changes of scene (Godard’s Breathless released in 1960) Ambient sound and lighting Existential themes Improvised dialogue and plotting As many of the New Wave film directors were prominent critics in the Cahiers du cinéma, it was evident in their uniform desire to reinvent film as a new type of art form. In contrast to the classic style of film making that has strong narratives, the New Wave filmmakers adopted a new technique stating that a film is just a sequence of moving images, where unity of the scenes is not necessary. The film techniques of the New Wavers are still popular and practiced by some of the contemporary filmmakers including noted filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. Analysis: Coming to the main subject of the paper, this section will deal with the textual analysis of François Truffaut’s 1959 film The 400 Blows. Before going into further details, lets first get a brief overview on Truffaut and his work. Being known as one of the founders of the French New Wave, François Truffaut has made remarkable contribution to the French film industry. The versatile persona of Truffaut reflected in his significant roles as director, producer, screenwriter and actor. The iconoclastic films of Truffaut earned him a number of prestigious awards from the film fraternity across the world. Released in 1959, Truffaut’s The 400 Blows or Les Quatre Cents Coups in French is a remarkable movie representing several characteristic features of the New Wave movement. The film was widely acclaimed, both critically as well as commercially, and won numerous awards including the Best Director Award at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival. Highly autobiographical in its style and elements, the primary focus of the film revolves around the young character of Antoine Doinel. The character of Antoine represents the real life events of Truffaut himself including his depressing childhood and troubled adolescence, and the unstable relationship of his parents. Moreover, The 400 Blows provides a comprehensive outlook on the unjust treatment of the contemporary society towards juvenile offenders in France. Genre and audience: Truffaut’s The 400 Blows is a serious drama that depicts the unjust treatment of juvenile criminals by society. The film is based on the French society of the 1950s that was known for its biased outlook for young criminals with troubled adolescence. It is an impressive cinema representing the characteristic traits of the French New Wave movement: strong autobiographical elements, existential themes (stressing the individual and the acceptance of the absurdity of human existence) and other technological features (handheld camera and long tracking shots) of the New Wave. Some of the contemporary New Wave cinematic works are Chabrol’s Le Beau Serge (1958) and Godard’s Breathless (1960). The fresh new look, cinematic styling and technological innovations of these movies brought a remarkable transformation in the French film industry. Truffaut’s The 400 Blows is considered as the landmark in New Wave movement that introduced new norms for cinematic art. It simply describes what was new as offered by the New Wave cinema in the 1950s. Truffaut’s movie is definitely one of the most intensely touching stories ever made about a young troubled adolescent, and particularly for the audience of small children. As a characteristic New Wave product, The 400 Blows includes the typical New Wave technical elements. The use of handheld camera in the film is evident when it follows Antoine, the protagonist of the movie around his parents’ flat. It introduces the audience to a dusty, cramped and oh-so-ordinary intricacies of a humble little life. Truffaut succeeds in showing this everyday monotony as captivating when Antoine is repeatedly told, “Don’t forget the garbage.” Towards the end of the movie, a long tracking shot captures Antoine as he runs away from everything. The shot carries out the important message of the internal subjectivity of a child neglected by his parents as well as the society. The film’s final shot, a zoom into a freeze frame directly captures Antoine on face in front of the camera. He is on the beach, running away from a house of detention. The scene finds the protagonist caught between land and water, between past and future. This is the first time Antoine has seen the sea. The final shot speaks everything about the movie and the agony of the protagonist on a strong note of emotional power. The theme of The 400 Blows is very much New Wave cinema in its essence. It is the tale of a juvenile delinquent Antoine Doinel, who is dismissed by his parents as well as the society. He feels trapped by his mediocre existence. The movie has Truffaut’s powerful voice (through the protagonist) for the biased societal concepts of crime and punishment. The experiences of the protagonist have denied him of the freedom of childhood. His natural impulses have been repressed by social institutions, again and again. In some ways, the characterization of Antoine represents the troubled life of Truffaut himself. Antoine’s escape from the juvenile detention house is seen by critics as his victory over the biased system. At the end of the film, Antoine is alone, confused. When he finally sees the sea, it is not the accomplishment of his long time desire, but a final disappointment of the protagonist. Truffaut is brilliant in his character portrayal and cinematography. The 400 Blows, Truffaut’s debut feature film is undoubtedly his most personal movie. Through the character development of Antoine, Truffaut recreates his own difficult childhood, aloof parents, oppressive teachers, petty crimes, and a friendship that lasted a lifetime. The film, targeted for audience of small children and old ones alike, has admirers in both age groups. While its brilliant description of social prejudices for juvenile delinquents captivates the mature audience, the elements of fun and childish innocence give it an interesting profile admired by young audience. Historical and institutional factors: Truffaut’s The 400 Blows is one of the most powerful products of the New Wave. Being the pioneer in New Wave, the film includes all the significant characteristics of the movement. All the artistic, cinematic and technological elements of the New wave are smartly featured in this highly influential and relevant film of adolescence. The strength of the characters has made this film a sure watch among the 20 finest films ever made in French cinema. Its editing and technologically innovative shots are very much typical of the New Wave films. Besides, the film uses, for a first in New Wave, the techniques of handheld camera, long tracking shots, location shooting, jump cuts, and improvised dialogues. Jump cuts are the cinematic processes where the unsuccessful shots are cut from the middle of a long single take. Truffaut has made good use of this technique in his films including his debut movie. Socio-cultural context: Truffaut’s The 400 Blows is a remarkable narrative based on the 20th century French society. The narrative portrays the disappointment of a troubled adolescent at the biased and unfair treatment of the society. The protagonist, an alter ego of the director himself (Truffaut) is confused and alone, trapped in his mediocre existence. He experiences neglect and injustices right from the childhood in terms of the unstable relationship of his parents, the punishments received from his oppressive teachers, and the society that is never attentive of his emotions and realities. The film portrays the sad picture of the detention houses for juvenile delinquents in France. The lack of emotional support for children from confused parents has a great effect on the growing adolescence of the children. The shattered picture of an unstable relationship between parents has been apparent in the growing life of the protagonist in The 400 Blows. The only positive aspect in Antione’s life is his friendship with Rene although it only strengthened the difference between the two characterization. Narrative: Construction of the narrative in The 400 Blows is taken seriously by Truffaut. The portrayal of Antoine is presented with characteristic ease. Rapid changes of scenes take the audience to the revealing of the characters of the protagonist and his parents. The audience loves Antoine as much as they love his parents. Scenes in which Antoine listens to his parents scream at each other in the cramped bedroom next door are so devastating that the audience is forced to feel emotional outbursts. The past life of the protagonist is revealed slowly, thus transforming the movie from a cinematic experience to life itself. The film brilliantly explores the dangerous rift between children and adults. The characteristic gap of old and new generations is evident in the movie. The title of the film The 400 Blows comes from the French idiom ‘faire les quatre cents coups’ which means ‘to raise hell’. While the movie is about a child who raises hell by rebelling against authority in the form of playing hooky and stealing, the title refers to the exploits of a hell-raising adolescent rebel. At the same time, it discloses the emotional strife of a child caused by his insensitive, neglectful parents, and the stifling, bullying school and state authorities. Language and representation: One of the strongest points of The 400 Blows is its remarkable character presentation. The protagonist, Antoine Doinel is the alter ego of Truffaut himself that personalizes his own troubled childhood and criminal profile. Trapped in his mediocre existence, the protagonist is confused and alone, dismissed by his aloof parents and oppressive teachers. The narrative of the film gradually introduces the audience to a mother engaged in frequent adultery, the kind step-father, the harsh and judgmental teacher, and other characters. The most spectacular of all is the characterization of the protagonist and the life events he encounters, audience can indeed identify with many of the scenes. The characters are simply amazing, and Jean-Pierre Léaud as Antoine is quite impressive. But most particularly, Truffaut has done a wonderful job behind the camera. The jump cuts and long tracking shots used in the film provide a closer reflection of the emotions of the characters. Some of the scenes are great moments to remember - for instance, Antoine in the Graviton or when his gym class starts thinning out as they jog with their teacher. The cinematography of the film is very impressive that deservingly labels The 400 Blows as the landmark film of the New Wave. In The 400 Blows, Truffaut creates a film language that translates subtle nuances of feelings and emotions into film while describing cinema as nonintellectual and emotional form of literature. The film includes original French mono soundtrack with no English dub. So there is no soppy musical numbers matching the emotions of the characters. Instead, the story is told as quietly as possible. However, that is not a minus point for the audience. This is not so much disappointing as the director succeeds in capturing the elemental emotions of the film through the use of technological innovations. The camera shots taken in the movie are brilliant representation of the emotions of the protagonist. Being an autobiographical reflection of Truffaut’s own life and those of his friends, the film’s style amounts to Truffaut’s personal history of French film. The technological innovations used in the film apparently offer a mode for making directly personal statements on films - a feature truly characteristic of the New Wave movement. Particularly, Truffaut’s use of unique and handheld camera shots is worth mentioning as it gave way to shoot personal emotions and feelings more explicitly yet aesthetically. The film was a small budget production. But it emphasized on the use of expensive sound and camera equipment. Natural lighting is utilized in the movie. The final scene of freeze frame where the protagonist is standing alone in front of the sea having run away from the detention house, is a brilliant example of outdoor shooting that actually captures the heart of the story of The 400 Blows. Conclusion: Truffaut’s The 400 Blows is undoubtedly the most significant cinematic narrative of the New Wave movement in French cinema. While the movie uses most of the characteristic features of the New Wave, it displays the technological innovations and new use of camera shots that would be followed and developed by later directors. The major characters of the movie have a realistic and self-contained humanity to them. The character of Antoine captures the experiences of youth with its enthusiasm, amorality, confusion and honesty. Truffaut does an impressive job in all aspects of the production of The 400 Blows, be it the strong characterization of the protagonist and other characters, use of innovative camera shots or other cinematic features. The director has successfully made brilliant experiments with editing, visual style and narrative part of the film. To conclude, The 400 Blows is a consistently engaging and genuinely touching movie and definitely the landmark of the French New wave. References: Mayne, J. Cinema and Spectatorship. London: Routledge, 1993. Neupert, R. A History of the French New wave Cinema. 2nd edition. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2007. Truffaut, F. The 400 Blows, 1959. Read More