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Product Description ------------------- The unforgettable debut feature by François Truffaut (Jules and Jim) is a wrenchingly personal coming-of-age story that introduced the character that would become the director s lifelong cinematic counterpart, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud, in one of the screen s great child performances). With the utmost sensitivity, The 400 Blows dramatizes the trials of Truffaut s own difficult childhood, characterized by aloof parents, oppressive teachers, and petty crime. The film marks its maker s official transition from influential critic to one of Europe s most brilliant auteurs, and is considered the first true work of the French New Wave. DVD SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES - High-definition digital restoration - Two audio commentaries, one by cinema professor Brian Stonehill and another by François Truffaut s lifelong friend Robert Lachenay - Rare audition footage of Jean-Pierre Léaud, Patrick Auffay, and Richard Kanayan - Newsreel footage of Léaud at Cannes in 1959 - Excerpt from a 1965 French television program in which Truffaut discusses his youth, his critical writing, and the origins of Antoine Doinel - Television interview with Truffaut from 1960 about the global reception of The 400 Blows and his own critical impression of the film - Trailer - PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Annette Insdorf .com ---- The knowing yet innocent face of Jean-Pierre Leaud, the 14-year-old star of The 400 Blows, is the heartbreaking core of Francois Truffaut's most film. As Antoine Doinel, Leaud begins his career as director Truffaut's alter-ego, a young boy neglected by his mother and stepher who, to cover his absence at school, tells a lie that leads him to run away from home and end up in reform school. There's nothing remarkable or surprising about the plot; the power of this film comes from how completely it draws you into Antoine's life. Antoine is a vivid, natural presence, one of the most compelling collaborations between a writer/director and an actor. The movie seems to capture him as he lives. Antoine endures his parent's indifference, humiliations at school, deprivation and juvenile delinquency--yet the movie never feels pitying or condescending, as if it were trying to rub your nose in Antoine's suffering. On the contrary: His resilience is what grabs you, his refusal to be broken down as he struggles towards a more adult understanding of the world. Truffaut and Leaud made many excellent films together (Day for Night, Two English Girls), including further chapters in Antoine's life (Bed and Board, Stolen Kisses), but none were quite as simple, rich, and devastatingly potent as The 400 Blows. (The title, incidentally, refers not to abuse or anything sexual, but is a French idiom for a wild and unruly youth or "raising hell.") --Bret Fetzer P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); Set Contains: ------------- The extras on this Criterion release are few but topnotch. There are two commentaries, one by a film professor (occasionally valuable but more often simply stating the obvious) and a charmingly anecdotal one by a longtime friend of Truffaut's (Truffaut himself died in 1984). The gems are an inful interview with Truffaut on a French TV show, discussing at length his influences, techniques, and the movie's reception around the world; and the screen tests of Leaud and a couple of the other boys from the movie, in which the boy's natural charm demonstrates that Antoine is as much Leaud's creation as Truffaut's. --Bret Fetzer See more ( javascript:void(0) )