400 Blows

24 August 2022

Director: Francois Truffaut

See

Her:

Him: Anotine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) is a juvenile delinquent in Francois Truffaunt’s semi-autobiographical film about a boy running amok in Paris.

Think

Her: 

Him: What started the French New Wave, straddling classics and modern film gives insight into a boy being misunderstood. 

Feel

Her:

Him: Truffaut said it could’ve been him if cinema hadn’t saved him. Doinel is mischievous and makes mistakes, like when falling love with the writing of Balzac, he lights a candle in a shrine which starts a fire. But in the moment after the boy’s parents scold him, they take him on a family outing to the cinema and bond. Rather than a one off solution, Doinel had to keep finding his way, because his teacher and parents or the state didn’t understand him. Truffaut and cinephiles do. He’s us.