The 400 Blows

 

    The film The 400 Blows by François Truffaut is a prime example of a French New Wave film. It features many of the qualities that new wave filmmakers valued in a production. Some of which includes the rejection of authority, handheld camera work, distancing tactics, and city-scapes. Paris unrolls beneath Antoine’s feet with lingering shots that enable the viewer’s eye to roam the street. He often darts through traffic without a second look at the cars and their traffic laws. There are plenty of street scenes in the film that give the eye enough time to roam around the frame--exploring free from the guiding hand of cuts. The lack of editing in these parts helps create that sense of freedom and sense of participation that the French New Wave thinkers incorporated in their works. Eugene McCreary in “Film History: New Wave Cinema and ‘68” states, “The spectator was free, or at least freer, to notice something of his own choice, to permit his attention to linger on a person or an object of more secondary importance, to construct his own film experience, in a word to participate actively” (65). These street scenes create a space where the viewer can “participate actively” and explore the version of Paris shown within the film. The space does not belong to anyone--not Antoine’s out of touch parents, or the cruel teacher, or the police and their constricting authority. He can slip below fences and hide in old factories. Physical and social barriers are broken as he skips class and runs free through the city.