Catch the Wave - ‘The 400 Blows’

France 1959; Director Francois Truffaut, with Jean-Pierre Leaud, Albert Remy, Claire Maurier, Patrick Auffay; 99 min.

Fifty years on from its unveiling at the Cannes Film Festival, Truffaut’s superb feature debut remains an influential landmark in the history of the cinema. Deeply moving yet devoid of maudlin sentimentality, the film centers on Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud), a 13-year-old constantly in trouble-justifiably or otherwise-with his parents and teachers. Drifting into truancy and petty theft, he soon finds himself at odds with still less sympathetic figures of adult authority. Shot on the streets of Paris, the film exudes an authenticity-emotional, psychological, sociological-surely born of the semi-autobiographical story.

Information from the museum's website