Great Scenes- "400 Blows"

Francois Truffaut's "The 400 Blows" is a heralded film that is often credited as marking the beginning of the French New Wave upon its release in 1959. Although Jean Luc Godard's "Breathless," a film penned by Truffaut, arguably caused more of a sensation, "Blows" lyricism has stood the test of time as the preeminent, incendiary example of the New Wave in its infancy. This grouping of films and filmmakers into distinct movements is problematic because it tries to homogenize rather disparate artists into categorical terms while marginalizing others without obvious similarities. The work of impressionists such as Monet, Degas, and Renoir share similarities, but they really could not be any different. The same also goes for the New Wave French directors such as Godard, Truffaut, Rohmer, Rivette, Malle, and the marginalized Bresson.

When you hear of these large movements in film, you expect a huge bang from the first influential film. The fact of the matter is that it always makes a whimper rather than a resounding roar. Rossellini's "Open City," one of the first films of the Italian neo-realist movement that was spawned by the desolation of WWII, is another great example. Concentrating on the generic elements of the movement such as on location shooting and the use of non-professional actors denies the film a unique identity. De Sica's "Bicycle Theives" has many similar elements, but the films are completely different. "Open City" is a polemical condemnation of the German Occupation, while DeSica's film is a humanist drama that focuses on the internal struggle of its poor protagonist who is forced to make decisions that are influenced by his desolate state.

With that being said, Truffaut's film is venerated because of its place within film history. Like many of his fellow Wavers, Truffaut has a rather paradoxical to classical Hollywood films by paying homage to favorite directors and deconstructing traditional filmic style at the same time. "400 Blows" is an autobiographical film of his childhood, but the film's lyricism is really nothing more than a social problem film. The best moments of the film are its depictions of the love of cinema and its brief instances of improvisation. The best scene of the film combines both. The 13-year old Antoine and his friend sit in the back of a theater with younger children while watching a puppet show. Truffaut filmed the children live while reacting to the show, filling the frame with their innumerable, reactive faces. Although the sound was synced in post-production, the scene has an enigmatic naturalism to it. Looks of fright when the wolf encounters the girl, turn to delight and excitement in a mere instant. The children look at each other in amazement, point to the show, clap in exhaltation, and jubilantly jump up and down. What the scene does is show the power of art. Although we will never have the same reactions to film or shows as we did as children, it reminds us of their aura. Innocence is lost with the recognition of illusion, but film still has the power to move.