Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master ListCannes · 1
Spoiler-free premise
Parisian schoolboy Antoine Doinel skips class, lies to adults, and drifts through a city offering little stable understanding or refuge.
Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free+
Misunderstood Parisian schoolboy Antoine Doinel moves between a crowded home, punitive classroom, cinemas, arcades, and the streets with his friend René. Truancy and small lies escalate as parents and teachers answer his restlessness with increasingly formal discipline.
Why it belongs
Through Paris locations, fluid movement, and Jean-Pierre Léaud's watchful face, The 400 Blows gives childhood rebellion restless freedom and painful specificity.
Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case+
Street shooting, mobile camera work, abrupt humor, classroom detail, and Jean-Pierre Léaud's mixture of defiance and vulnerability keep Antoine from becoming either symbol or problem case. The final tracking movement holds liberation and uncertainty together.
