To this point, we have studied films in which adult male protagonists traverse professionally lit sound-stages and back-lots adhering to a dramatic script with a clear beginning, middle and end, often containing a B-story where the guy tries to get the girl. It is the clear-cut studio-era formula to film-making.
The 400 Blows (1959) spits on this hallowed recipe, starring a young boy living a realistic life devoid of the melodrama golden age Hollywood is known for. The natural lighting and lack of built sets add to this realism, as the entirety of the film appears to be shot on location. There is no phony Casablanca backdrop or constructed apartment courtyard in this film; only Paris. In regards to the story, The 400 Blows is an example of the French New Wave’s “anti-narrative” approach, to use Craig Phillips’s term. There is no dramatic inciting incident. There is no death or romance, nor is there a coincidental clashing of fates as is the case with Sunset Boulevard (1950). The story is simply about an adolescent who often gets in trouble and must deal with the consequences dealt by his aloof parents and cruel teacher. It is a movie with low stakes where things just happen. There are no grand beats dictating where the story should go, only the decisions of realistically drawn out characters in a logical setting.
The film has no room for sentimentality. None of the maudlin morals of Casablanca (1942) or the melodrama of Sunset Boulevard are present here. The closest thing to romance in The 400 Blows is the boys’ prepubescent fascination with pinups of nude women. The family dynamic presented in the movie is even more depraved, with an adulterous mother who views her own son as a mistake and a bumbling father who seems more intent on finding his Michelin magazine than he does sympathizing with his son. Moreover, the film’s turn to a rough life on the streets is even more raw, as young Antoine finds himself sleeping in printing presses and stealing milk.
All these features culminate in an open-ended finale, something absent from Citizen Kane (1941) and Sunset Boulevard, films that neatly end with the finality of protagonists’ deaths (in the case of the former, a character’s whole life story coming to a conclusion, since Kane’s death started the film but the viewer only understands the full picture watching Rosebud burn in flames). The ending isn’t a happy one either, as is the case with the hopeful climax of Casablanca or the content resolution of Rear Window (1954). The 400 Blows ends with Antoine achieving one of his dreams: seeing the sea, something he thought would be reserved for his time in the Navy. Yet, when he arrives at the beach, he does not feel satisfied, seemingly looking to the audience for answers. The movie ends with an unconventional editing technique, the freeze-frame, dwelling on the Antoine’s face. His expression, much like the ending, is ambiguous, leaving the viewer wondering that the past hour and forty minutes was truly about.
The 400 Blows was one of the influential films that opened a door for more complexity in cinema. That is not to say all movies before the New Wave were formulaic and simple. Rather, there was need for an artistic change. The studio formula was great for mainstream commercial successes but left much to be desired for artistic endeavors. Francois Truffaut provides a breath of fresh air, even now as the market continues to be and will always be dominated by formulaic commercial investments. For this reason, The 400 Blows still holds up.
In a world where the mainstream never dries up, the New Wave will always be new.
The CineMan Twist 