The+400+Blows

François Truffaut's "The 400 Blows" Mise-en-scene Film Analysis

__**The Plot of the Film (What the Character** **Wants):**__ Antoine Doinel is a twelve year-old boy who is constantly misunderstood and disappointed by the adults in his life. His parents have a complicated hot-and-cold relationship and they often take out their anger on Antoine as they are unable​ to understand Antoine and Antoine is unable to understand them. His teacher’s stubbornness prevents him from seeing Antoine as anything other than a troublemaker who performs poorly in class. Other adult figures, such as the judge, are also unable to understand Antoine and realize that Antoine’s every action is motivated by the fact that Antoine wants something more out of life than what he has now. As a result, Antoine is neglected and faces many hardships in his childhood that cause him to desire simple things that will give him happiness, such as the ocean.

__**The Theme of the Film (What the Character** **Needs):**__ Antoine is alike to all other misunderstood adolescent boys in that he himself does not realize his subconscious needs and cravings. From an extremely simple point of view, Antoine needs affection from his family and respect and understanding from his elders. However, he faces difficulties in attaining this because he does not fully comprehend that just because someone is an adult, it does not free them from being hypocrites, from being wrong in different situations, and from being imperfect. Antoine is neglected and struggles to accept himself and his situation through methods such as rebelling. He is limited and constrained by society and feels the need to reassure himself that life offers so much more than just what he is experiencing.

__**The Tone of the Film****:**__ The overwhelming tone present throughout the film is a tone of longing. There is a feeling of emptiness within every scene and as a result, a complementing feeling of longing to have something to fill the emptiness. Every character is incomplete, and their desire to have something to change their lives for the better contributes to the atmosphere of almost hesitant anticipation.

__**Ten Aspects of Mise-en-scene:**__ >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> *see all screen shots* >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>>
 * 1) Setting – The setting of the film is often important in building expectations for the audience and manipulating those expectations into creating a meaningful story. “The 400 Blows” is set in Paris in the 1950s, and includes many shots of Paris’ scenery. The director’s choice to set the story in Paris allows him to emphasize the presence of society and its often stifling effect on people as they are forced to adapt and conform to society’s requirements. Paris is portrayed as a bustling city that is not a suitable match for an adolescent who is trying to find and understand himself. Paris is normally portrayed in films as a place where one’s wildest dreams can come true, but the audience is actually taken for a surprise turn when it is shown that what Antoine is looking for is found outside of Paris and everything else that Antoine knows. 
 * 1) Antoine’s and his family’s costumes – Costumes are an important, defining visual element for films and can be used to shown the transformations of characters. The costumes of Antoine and his family are extremely simple. The three characters are molded to look as though they fit into the stereotype of the average working family that struggles to make ends meet. The fact that their outfits hardly change throughout the story despite the dramatic character changes that are revealed to the audience as the story progresses emphasizes idea that society is resistant to changes despite what occurs underneath its surface. Even though there are internal conflicts present within the characters and society, they are not blatantly revealed to the outside world. The only noticeable development of a costume is seen in Antoine’s costume. As he grows older and matures as a result of not only his own personal realizations, but also the effect of society forcing him to change (sending him to a camp for juvenile delinquents), his outfits slowly go from those of a troubled yet daring young schoolboy to one that has succumbed to his parents’ and society’s demands. He no longer wears the outfit of a schoolboy, but the suit of a maturing young adult.
 * 1) Props – Props are used to help establish the setting as well as develop the story by being the center of key moments in a film. One major prop that is used in “The 400 Blows” is the typewriter than Antoine steals from his father’s place and tries to sell. The fact that there was still a typewriter fulfilled its basic duty of helping to establish the period the film was taking place in. It also serves as a symbol for Antoine’s longing for understanding and freedom. The purpose of Antoine trying to sell the typewriter is so that he can finance his plans to change his life from the one that is suffocating him to one that he feels he will be happier in. A typewriter is something that can be used to write stories, which reflects Antoine and his actual passion for good books (despite his poor performance at school) as well as his desire to fabricate a new life for himself.
 * 1) Color – The director’s choice to film the movie in black and white was not one that made just because numerous films of that period were still filmed in black and white. However, the black and white helps to emphasize a child’s perspective on the world. A child often does not see things from numerous perspectives but rather only sees things in black and white, right or wrong, normal or abnormal. Throughout the film, Antoine sees many new and unexpected things but is unable to comprehend the meaning that is behind what he has seen. For example, when he sees his mother with another man, he realizes that his mother is cheating on his father but does not understand why she has done so. He is unable to break past the barrier and truly understand situations or people. That is why he feels as though he is trapped in his world, and his most relied-on way of improving his situation is to do things such as escaping. The romantic quality of the black-and-white film also contributes to the tone of wistful longing and heightens the dramatic feel of the film.
 * 1) Using framing to trap characters – The director is extremely adept at positioning his frames and what fits into his frames. Throughout the film, he often uses framing to emphasize the theme of the suffocating qualities of society. Numerous characters are shown to be trapped not only through their thoughts and what they say but by how they are visually show on the screen as well. For example, throughout the film it is seen that Antoine often feels helpless against the hardships that life throws at him. This is further emphasized by how Antoine is often seen to be physically trapped when he hits low points of his life, e.g. when he is at jail or when his friend Rene can’t visit him at the juvenile detention center. Not only does the area he is in trap him, but the framing of the camera contains him in a box as well. This is also seen through Antoine’s mother, who feels trapped by her tiring life as a housewife and a worker and seeks escape through a secret affair. When she looks into the mirror, she thinks that she is seeing who she is set to be but is actually trapping and resigning herself into being who she thinks she must be.
 * 1) The use of high and wide angles – The director uses high and wide angles at certain moments in his film. The most obvious use of these angles occur after Antoine and Rene decide to change their lives. The moment they decided to change their lives to something that they wanted, they broke down the barriers that society was constraining them with and allowed themselves to be exposed to the world and the new opportunities it had to offer. This is often portrayed by the use of high and wide angles. Although angles that tilt down often are used to convey that a character is inferior or small with a negative connotation, it is actually the opposite for this film. When the director chooses to place the camera that far from the actors and increase the shot distance, he wants to show how inferior and small the two boys are compared to the rest of what the world has to offer them. They are so young and full of potential to get out into the world and experience its numerous opportunities. They are like frogs in a well that have realized that outside of their well, there is actually a huge world waiting for them.
 * 1) Natural Lighting – The director chooses to use natural lighting instead of fake or exaggerated lighting. </range id="403838744_11">The lighting is so natural that at times, it is difficult to see what is happening as a result of the scene occurring at nighttime or in a dark area. The use of this lighting helps to establish that the director does not wish to manipulate the story in any way, but instead wants it to flow naturally as though the life events of a young boy are really unfolding. This helps to emphasize that in life, one cannot manipulate different areas according to what pleases them, but must accept every aspect of their life. The use of natural lighting also contributes to how real the film appears to audiences and makes the story of a neglected adolescent that much more raw. It allows audiences to relate more to the problems Antoine is facing as they see things clearly when things are meant to be clear, and can’t see properly when things aren’t meant to be seen properly.
 * 1) The blocking during Antoine’s interview with the psychiatrist – Instead of choosing to show the psychiatrist and Antoine having a face-to-face conversation (like they most likely would have had as a doctor and a patient), the director places Antoine in the center of the screen with little to no background behind him. That way, the focus is entirely on Antoine and his personal accounts of his life. This also emphasizes how alone Antoine had been during those events in his life and how desperately he had needed someone to be there for him. He had not stood out to others but had merely begun to blend in to the background and conform to society. The nonchalant way in which he recounts his history shows how he had gradually accepted the way things occurred in his life, despite whether they had been just or acceptable.
 * 1) The actor for Antoine’s Acting (Facial Expressions and Body language): Without an actor as powerful as Jean-Pierre Leaud (the boy who played Antoine), “The 400 Blows” probably could never have achieved its standing in cinema history. Antoine’s reactions often define scenes and make the film to seem incredibly real. He gives incredible depth to Antoine, who could have easily been pictured as a bratty young boy that resisted authority and just wanted to cause mischief. By doing so, the audience builds up a sense of catharsis for Antoine and sides with him as the main hero of the story. For example, often things happening within the movie are shown from Antoine’s point of view. <range type="comment" id="403838744_12">When Antoine’s parents are fighting about Antoine, instead of showing his mother and his father screaming at each other, the shot remains focused on Antoine’s troubled face the entire time</range id="403838744_12">. Antoine resists making any loud outbursts or rebuttals and instead remains quiet as the truth about what his parents want to do with him sinks in.
 * 1) Framing of the final scene – After Antoine escapes from the juvenile delinquent center, he runs away to finally fulfill his desire and see the ocean. As he runs to the ocean, the camera captures everything that he is running past and leaving behind, showing that he is leaving behind his past and heading towards the world and what it has to offer. When he reaches the beach, the camera is shooting him from a slightly far distance so that he seems to be free within the frame. This emphasizes his freedom from society and how he is finally liberated from what had originally been weighing him down and holding him back – society’s expectations and requirements. However, when he touches the water, the camera zooms in on him and the reaction on his face. <range type="comment" id="403838744_13">He slowly becomes bigger within the frame until the audience is forced to question whether Antoine has truly made the right decision and has acquired freedom and new opportunities, or whether he has just met another barrier by running into a dead end. </range id="403838744_13">