Knowra The 400 Blows The 400 Blows A 1959 French film directed by François Truffaut, following Parisian boy Antoine Doinel through conflict with his family, school, and juvenile detention.
Antoine Doinel : A fictional Parisian boy portrayed by Jean-Pierre Léaud across several films directed by François Truffaut. His school troubles, home life, and detention shape the film’s story.
François Truffaut : A French film director, critic, and screenwriter associated with the French New Wave. He directed and co-wrote The 400 Blows, drawing on experiences from his youth.
Autobiographical film : A film whose story draws substantially on the filmmaker’s own life or experiences. Truffaut transformed elements of his childhood into Antoine’s fictional story.
Antoine Doinel cycle : A sequence of five François Truffaut films following Antoine Doinel from adolescence into adulthood. The 400 Blows introduced the character whose life continues across four later films.
Studio system : A model of film production in which studios control filmmaking through centralized facilities, contracts, and production processes. Truffaut’s location-based, personal production departed from the highly controlled studio model.
Jean-Pierre Léaud : A French actor whose long collaboration with François Truffaut began with The 400 Blows. His performance gives Antoine a watchful, restless presence.
French New Wave : A movement in French cinema that challenged established filmmaking conventions, especially in the late 1950s and 1960s. The film became one of the movement’s defining early features.
Location shooting : Filming in real places rather than constructing the entire setting on a studio set. Paris streets and buildings give Antoine’s world a lived-in texture.
The 400 Blows in Venice : A 1960 French short film in which Antoine Doinel visits Venice with his friend René. This short continued Antoine’s story soon after the feature’s release.
French poetic realism : A French film movement of the 1930s known for stylized atmosphere, working-class characters, and fatalistic stories. The 400 Blows favors youthful observation over the movement’s polished fatalism.
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