With gracious thanks to the BFI the opportunity to see The 400 Blows screened theatrically cropped up this evening, in honour of the films 50th anniversary. I have seen the film innumerable times, in fact its currently in second position on the Hope Lies List, and was previously looked at on Hope Lies HERE, yet I had never actually seen the film projected on bona-fide celluloid in a theatre. Obviously it was a great experience, and as with each repeat viewing I picked up on several details that I had failed to do so before. 

This was my first screening of The 400 Blows since seeing the rest of the Antoine Doinel series in its entirety, so a lot was brought to the screening due to my knowledge of the suceeding pictures. I found the relationships that Antoine holds with the people around him as he grows up (his parents, his teacher) to be much more poignant and forebearing, and the whole experience was made much more emotional as a result. Also the sheer joy and charm on display hit me a lot harder than previously. With special note of the sequence set during the childrens puppet show, the sheer amount of happiness and innocence on display on the faces of the children on screen is immense. Its a testament to Truffaut’s capability as a filmmaker that the realism drawn from these performances translates to the screen so well. 

Let’s not  forget that The 400 Blows marked the birth of the legendary Leaud/Truffaut partnership, and it really is most prevailant when you have taken a look at the whole series and returned to the first film. The optimism in the decision to put so much faith in Leaud, at the time just 14 years old, is inspired, with the Antoine Doinel cycle proving to be one of the single greatest achievement’s in the history of the cinema.