The 400 Blows, is a film that encapsulates the complex notion of innocence in the rebellion of not only a child but an entire younger generation. The audience gets to follow Antoine Dionel's (Jean-Pierre Léaud) journey from skipping class, to stealing, to being sent to juvenile detention. I enjoyed this because I believe we can all identify with Antoine to some extent, everyone has a rebellious phase, though, a moment when they were told 'no' in their life, and that's just the truth.
As noted, this picture was filmed in black and white during a time where color was an option. Although it may be an unpopular opinion; I enjoyed the aesthetic choice that Francois Truffaut made. I feel if I were to watch this film in color then I would focus more on the picturesque qualities and less on the development of character and depth of the motif of the film. Often times, color can be intrusive. And as I understand; every culture elicits different reactions and emotions with color, so it might even be possible that as we are passively watching we create biases that we are unaware of.
Based on your post, I'm reminded of what Scorsese said about the idea of there being "too much sound" in movies today. I suppose we could argue the same thing about color to a certain extent. Like you say, when excess color and sound are taken away, we're left with a film that makes us pay closer attention to its narrative and major themes without other distractions. That's why it's very different to watch "The 400 Blows" vs. something like "The Avengers".
ReplyDeleteI love this observation!
DeleteI really liked how you described Antoine Dionel as just going through a rebellion phase. Sometimes people just look at the facts they can see and assume someone is just a bad person. Stress and misunderstandings can lead a kid to be more rebellious, and I'm glad you don't label him as a criminal.
ReplyDeleteI like how you identified Antoine with all of us, he's not some crazy character invented in Truffaut's mind, he's incredibly relatable. He's not a bad kid, just kind of lost.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with your notion that the aesthetic of this film allows us to really focus on Antoine as a character. I would go even further and suggest that it cues us how to feel about him in what is emphasized in the use of light and dark.
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