François Truffaut

The 400 Blows

The 400 Blows

François Truffaut’s first feature is also his most personal. Told through the eyes of Truffaut’s cinematic counterpart, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), The 400 Blows sensitively recreates the trials of Truffaut’s own difficult childhood. The film established Truffaut as a trailblazing auteur of the French New Wave.

Film Info

  • France
  • 1959
  • 99 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 2.35:1
  • French
  • Spine #5

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • Restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Two audio commentaries, one by cinema professor Brian Stonehill and the other by director François Truffaut’s lifelong friend Robert Lachenay
  • Rare audition footage of Jean-Pierre Léaud, Patrick Auffay, and Richard Kanayan
  • Newsreel footage from the film’s showing at Cannes
  • Excerpt from a 1965 interview with Truffaut in which he discusses his youth, his critical writings, and the origins of the character Antoine Doinel
  • Excerpt from a 1960 interview with Truffaut about the global reception of The 400 Blows and his own critical view of the film
  • Trailer
  • PLUS: An essay by film scholar Annette Insdorf

    Cover by Lucien S. Y. Yang

Purchase Options

Collector's Sets

Collector's Set

The Adventures of Antoine Doinel

The Adventures of Antoine Doinel

4K UHD+Blu-ray Combo Box Set

8 Discs

$87.46

Collector's Set

The Adventures of Antoine Doinel

The Adventures of Antoine Doinel

Blu-ray Box Set

4 Discs

$69.95

Collector's Set

Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films

Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films

DVD Box Set

50 Discs

$650.00

Out Of Print

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • Restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Two audio commentaries, one by cinema professor Brian Stonehill and the other by director François Truffaut’s lifelong friend Robert Lachenay
  • Rare audition footage of Jean-Pierre Léaud, Patrick Auffay, and Richard Kanayan
  • Newsreel footage from the film’s showing at Cannes
  • Excerpt from a 1965 interview with Truffaut in which he discusses his youth, his critical writings, and the origins of the character Antoine Doinel
  • Excerpt from a 1960 interview with Truffaut about the global reception of The 400 Blows and his own critical view of the film
  • Trailer
  • PLUS: An essay by film scholar Annette Insdorf

    Cover by Lucien S. Y. Yang
The 400 Blows
Cast
Jean-Pierre Léaud
Antoine Doinel
Claire Maurier
Madame Doinel
Albert Rémy
Monsieur Doinel
Guy Decomble
Teacher (“Little Quiz”)
Georges Flamant
Monsieur Bigey
Patrick Auffay
René Bigey
Daniel Couturier
The children
François Nocher
Richard Kanayan
Renaud Fontanarosa
Michel Girard
Henry Moati
Bernard Abbou
Jean-François Bergouignan
Michel Lesignor
Credits
Director
François Truffaut
Producer
Georges Charlot
Original story
François Truffaut
Adaptation
Marcel Moussy
Adaptation
François Truffaut
Dialogue
Marcel Moussy
Director of photography
Henri Decaë
Editor
Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte
Editor
Cécile Decugis
Editor
Michèle de Possel
Music
Jean Constantin
Production supervisor
Jean Lavie
Production supervisor
Robert Lachenay
Assistant director
Philippe de Broca
Assistant director
Alain Jeannel
Assistant director
Francis Cognany
Assistant director
Robert Bober

Current

Jean-Pierre Léaud Auditions
Jean-Pierre Léaud Auditions
Jean-Pierre Léaud defines the word precocious in this charming 16 mm footage of the confident teenager’s audition for François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows. As we know, the rest is history. You can see more from Léaud’s audition (including some …
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The 400 Blows: Close to Home

In telling the story of the young outcast Antoine Doinel, François Truffaut was moving both backward and forward in time—recalling his own experience while forging a filmic language that would grow more sophisticated throughout the 1960s.

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Explore

François Truffaut

Writer, Director

François Truffaut
François Truffaut

A lifelong cinephile, François Truffaut first made his cinematic mark as a fiery, contentious critic for Cahiers du cinéma in the 1950s, denouncing the French film industry's bloated "tradition of quality" and calling for the director to be redefined as the auteur, or individual author, of the film. Truffaut then became an auteur himself, starting with The 400 Blows, which won him the best director award at Cannes and led the French new-wave charge. The 400 Blows remains Truffaut’s seminal film, yet he continued to reinvigorate cinema throughout the sixties, with such thrilling works as Shoot the Piano Player and Jules and Jim. Truffaut also continued to follow the adventures of 400 Blows protagonist Antoine Doinel—embodied by Jean-Pierre Léaud—through the seventies (Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board, Love on the Run), while directing such other classics as Day for Night and The Last Metro, which displayed his undying love for cinema and life. His own life was tragically cut short at the age of fifty-two.