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400 Blows (Les 400 Coups) [1959] [DVD]
 
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400 Blows (Les 400 Coups) [1959] [DVD]

Rated: Parental Guidance | Format: DVD
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
Price: £7.17 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

400 Blows (Les 400 Coups) [1959] [DVD] + Jules and Jim: Jules et Jim [DVD] [1962] + Breathless [DVD] (1960)
Price For All Three: £23.01

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Product details

  • Format: PAL
  • Language French
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: PG
  • Studio: 2entertain
  • DVD Release Date: 25 Sep 2006
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000HA46QM
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 11,523 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

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Reviews

Synopsis

Director Francois Truffaut's first feature film, The 400 Blows, is a landmark in French cinema. Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud) is a 13-year-old boy who can't seem to do anything right. His parents yell at him and then bribe him for his love and his promises to work harder in school. Meanwhile, his schoolteacher is out to get him and blames Antoine for everything--turning him into the class clown. As a result, Antoine runs away from school and his difficult family, living on the streets of Paris and committing petty crimes. While his life on the street is tough, it's much better than dealing with his preoccupied parents and his accusatory teacher. Nonetheless, things only go downhill for Antoine, descending to a simultaneously painful and beautiful conclusion.

A truly impressive film, The 400 Blows is raw, honest, and intensely emotional. Imbued with a strong and complex personality, Antoine maintains his poise and self-confidence, even as he endures abusive treatment from every adult he encounters. Rene Simonet (Patrick Auffray) is Antoine's one pal, and the unspoken dialogues between the boys, depicted by Truffaut through the boys' facial expressions and with masterful roving photography, allow the viewer to see through Antoine's eyes and understand his unflinching tenacity. Few films have captured the difficulties of childhood as well as this acclaimed French masterpiece. Essentially the start of the French New Wave movement, The 400 Blows is also the beginning of Truffaut's Antoine Doinel cycle, which follows Leaud as Antoine in four additional films over the course of 20 years.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Tears streamed down my face at the end of this film. It is just one of the most moving scenes in film history - often copied and imitated. The story of a neglected child and an unfair and judgemental society is simple, yet so brilliant.

Leaud plays a mischievous, yet normal boy whose mother and father hold an ambivalent relationship towards him. They are not necessarily malevolent people, but they have a misunderstanding towards their son - they represent the majority of parents who fail to nurture their children through society's attitudes and misgivings.

The elegance of the music and direction is so smooth and heightens the profound nature of the story. Truffaut's style has been plagiarised by so many great directors from Scorsese to Altman to Paul Thomas Anderson, its flowing and oozing sentiment.

If you don't like crying or being touched then definitely don't watch this film. Its sensitive, stirring and sincere. It pulls slowly yet cleverely at your heartstrings without brusque devices. Also, this film is proof that you can find very talented children that can act - unlike the awful child fodder poured out today.

Don't hesitate to buy this film, whatever the price!

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
A true classic. 16 April 2006
Format:DVD
This was the film that launched the French New Wave, which was one of the most important things to happen to cinema in its history. The film centres on a Parisian schoolboy, Antoine Doinel (a semi-autobiographical invention on Truffaut's part who would turn up in a number of Truffaut's films) and his gradual estrangement from school and his parents through various, rather minor, acts of rebellion which end up having serious consequences for him. The film is wonderfully shot, beautifully and evocatively depicting contemporary Paris, and stylishly directed. The performance of Jean-Pierre Léaud as Doinel is outstanding, and has to be one of the best pieces of child acting ever.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By C H
Format:DVD
This is one of my favourite films. I think it speaks for itself as greatest Francious Truffaut and one of the most beautiful films ever made. I defy anyone to not fall in love with Jean-Pierre Leaud's Antoine Doniel. Some of the reviewers on this page are complaining that the subtitles are bad translations. This may be true - I dont speak much French. but what i'd like to say is that I thought the use of words such as 'ya', was meant to emphasise that they were speaking in 'parisian slang'. I found this adorable when the two boys were conversing with each other. The contradiction of the way they talk to each other like workingclass men, who are fed up with the world and their mischevous, work-shy, adolescent behaviour is highly amusing. Please dont be put off by the bad comments. If you do not yet own this film, you will be in for an absolute delight
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good
AGain this was another of the French Films I purchased for my A level French daughter to listed to and hear the French language being spoken. Read more
Published 24 months ago by ladyday
New Wave crashes upon the beaches of the French cinema
Les Quatre cents coup is a happy film as it pins us to the wall of this first film of the nouvelle vague,kicking against the pricks in the cause of realism,based on memories of the... Read more
Published on 14 April 2010 by technoguy
Film That Endlessly Rewards Close Attention
"The Four Hundred Blows," (1959) a drama with comic touches, was the first full-length feature film from famed French director/movie critic Francois Truffaut, and is generally... Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2010 by Stephanie DePue
you must see this film
An excellent film - good story - well acted - well told - great cinematography - fantastic shots of paris street life from the period - watch this then ignore the rest of the... Read more
Published on 16 Jan 2010 by mv
The boy stays in the picture.
4oo blows is a must for any film fan. The story of a young boy struggling to come to terms with the world and his rebellion against authority is a parallel with the life of the... Read more
Published on 17 Aug 2009 by Mr. David J. Garrett
Touching and expertly made movie about a boy
This is the sort of film which puts Hollywood to shame. Instead of jumping from plot point to plot point, this movie stays with our troubled hero as his fate is decided by the... Read more
Published on 20 July 2009 by Mr. J. Carr
The 400 Blows me away
This is First movie i have seen by Francois Truffaut what a great movie to start with.This movie could easyily be set today.Alot of complaints here about the DVD. Read more
Published on 21 Aug 2008 by Mr. Terry D. Jarvis
Superb film but don't bother with this DVD release
Many sequences out of sync. Subtitles are inaccurately translated into American English and CANNOT BE TURNED OFF. Very irritating. Too cheap to be worth returning. Read more
Published on 23 May 2008 by G. Henry-Stogdon
Glorious film - but with burned in subtitles
The film is one of the glories of World Cinema, but this welcome disc is only worth buying if it is going cheap and you don't have the Criterion release. Read more
Published on 19 May 2008 by Paul R. Sutton
Truffaut's first film - perhaps his best.
This largely autobiographical film, hauntingly shot in black and white, is set in austere post-war Paris, and tells of the early life of 14 year old Antoine Doinel, who lives with... Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2008 by John Sheppard
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