The 400 Blows (1959) on Netflix
In Paris, fourteen-year-old Antoine Doinel is punished at school and left mostly to himself by his parents at home. He skips class with his friend René and drifts toward petty crime.
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- Rotten Tomatoes99%
Trailer
Plot summary
A young boy, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.
—Zaheer Qureshi
Seemingly in constant trouble at school, 14-year-old Antoine Doinel returns at the end of every day to a drab, unhappy home life. His parents have little money and he sleeps on a couch that's been pushed into the kitchen. His parents bicker constantly and he knows his mother is having an affair. He decides to skip school and begins a downward spiral of lies and theft. His parents are at their wits' end, and after he's stopped by the police, they decide the best thing would be to let Antoine face the consequences. He's sent to a juvenile detention facility where he doesn't do much better. He does manage to escape however.
—garykmcd
14-year-old Antoine Doinel is unfairly punished in school by his teacher in French literature. Next morning his friend René suggests that they play truant. Instead of going to school, they go to the cinema, play pinball, and visit a huge amusement rotor. The following day Antoine tells his teacher that his absence was due to his mother's death; unfortunately his parents turn up at school. Antoine loves his mother, but she dislikes him, because he is the result of an episodic intercourse in her youth before she met Antoine's stepfather. When things get worse, both in school and at home, Antoine runs away. René lives in a huge apartment with his rich parents, who won't notice if Antoine sleeps in René's room.
Cast
Show all 20 cast
- Michel Girardas Un enfant / Child
- Bernard Abbouas Un enfant / Child
- Jean-François Bergouignanas Un enfant / Child
- Michel Lesignoras Un enfant / Child
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The 400 Blows (1959)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- François Truffaut dedicated The 400 Blows to André Bazin, the man who became his spiritual father, and who died just as the film was about to be shot.
- According to Annette Insdorf, writing for the Criterion Collection, the film is rooted in Truffaut's own childhood: like Antoine Doinel, Truffaut did not know his biological father, and both found a substitute home in the movie theater.
