The 400 Blows

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

Paul & Amy raise hell for 1959’s French New Wave adolescent drama The 400 Blows! They learn how François Truffaut went from a Hitchcock-worshipping critic to a director himself, discuss how he then became a major influence on directors like Steven Spielberg, and praise the value of creative limitations in creating truly fresh works of art. Plus: a scene from the unforgettable Sesame Street adaptation.

This is the third episode of our “Back To School” miniseries; next week’s film is Rebel Without A Cause! Learn more about the show at unspooledpod.com, follow us on Twitter @unspooled and Instagram @unspooledpod, and don’t forget to rate, review & subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. Also check out our live Spool Party episodes on youtube.com/earwolf!

[FictionIsntReal 79]

I always read people saying this film is about how oppressed this kid is by the adults, but the adults came across as fairly reasonable to me. Most of the time when he gets in trouble, he really is in the wrong. I can still enjoy him raising hell, just as I enjoy the lead in "Her Smell" being awful for most of the movie, but that doesn't require me to sympathize with him.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

To me the brilliance of this film is that it is showing you all sides at once: the kid is at once a sympathetic little scamp and also an irresponsible brat. The filmmaking approach matches this too: for example, the final sequence of him running around in desolate spaces while romantic music plays over the soundtrack. Happy and sad all at the same time. It's a really interesting and nuanced remembrance of Truffaut's own youth.

[grudlian. 4725]

The 400 Blows is a wonderful and I don't have anything to add here that wasn't covered in the podcast. I think it's an obvious choice to go on any list of greatest movies. I'll confirm the other Antoine Doinel movies are very good (except Love On The Run which is pretty bad and mostly a clip show of the previous movies).

I don't understand Amy's love of Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls which I'd say is a conflicting mess of trashy moralizing.