“Oh, I lie now and then, I suppose. Sometimes I'd tell them the truth and they still wouldn't believe me, so I prefer to lie.”

I just wanted to preface this review by saying I don’t expect this to be one of my “better” reviews, simply because this might just be the hardest film to analyze fully in depth that I’ve watched since I started doing long-form reviews. The story, message, and themes are all conveyed rather clearly; it’s just looking at the film at an even deeper level that makes it difficult to talk about in length. That being said, this was my first ever French film (I believe) that I’d ever seen, and I have to say, I absolutely loved it.

The most clear and obvious theme of The 400 Blows is that of child neglect and the very possible outcomes of child neglect. Our main character, Antoine Doinel, is first introduced by being difficult for his teacher in class, and is therefore punished for his behavior. The further and further you get into the story, the more Antoine is met with either a lack of proper discipline from his parents or a complete disregard for his well-being at all. This causes him to go down a rabbit hole of bad behavior after bad behavior, because all that his parents and adult colleagues have motivated him to do is rebel and do exactly what he shouldn’t do. This mainly includes running away, theft, and a couple of other things that eventually lead him to a corner.

This theme is reinforced constantly throughout the runtime, but also portrayed in an interesting way as far as his relationship with his parents goes. They aren’t good at their job (when it comes to being a basic parent), but they aren’t outright bad, at least not in an extremely obvious way (for the most part), which is kind of the point. Most “bad” parents aren’t that way, but rather do more subtle things, like what Antoine experiences with his parents, that lead their children down that dark path.

Moving away from the narrative and themes and all of that, as a big fan of movie scores, and you’ll hear me repeat this phrase again, this is one of the best I’ve come across from films released before the 1960s (I know it’s barely before the 1960s, but still). For the most part, the same kind of music is used repeatedly throughout the runtime, but also used extremely effectively. It captures this sense of childhood nostalgia that I can’t even really describe; you just have to watch it, or listen to it rather, to get what I’m saying. The score is also beautiful to say the very least.

I just mentioned that I would say this phrase again, but I truly do mean it when I state that this has not only some of the best music I’ve heard pre-1960s, but easily some of the best cinematography and camerawork that I’ve seen as well. The way the framing works felt so modern to me that it honestly surprised me, as most films from this time period, as good as they can be, do feel a little bit dated in that respect. This is also a much more ambitious film in that regard as well, compared to other movies at that particular time.

The last thing I wanted to say is that Jean-Pierre Léaud’s performance as Antoine has got to be one of the best child performances that I’ve ever come across. What makes it all the more impressive is that it’s not really over-the-top in any serious way, either. It’s a much more subtle and reflective performance than I would have expected from someone so young, so I definitely have to praise both the actor and the director, François Truffaut, on that as well.

At the end of the day, I can’t really say that I have any particular criticisms for The 400 Blows, except for maybe a bit of just okay pacing here and there, but that could very much just come from my lack of experience in older and more classic movies. I think that this does an excellent job at delivering its themes as well as being very poignant, which is only elevated by the ending. After I watched the movie, I realized that this was actually part of a five-movie series, and while I am definitely eager to check those other movies out, I very much also feel that the ending here was perfect as is.