Francois Truffaut’s first film The 400 Blows was an autobiographical film. It is one of the well-known examples of cinema in the first-person. Through telling the life of the young rebel Antoine Doinel, Truffaut was moving both towards the future and back to the past by remembering his own experiences as a child yet while also creating a film aspect that would become more popular throughout the 60s. The 400 Blows is derived from Truffaut’s childhood. Born in Paris in 1932, he spent his early years with his grandmother, as his parents didn’t care much for him. After his grandmother passed, he returned home . Being an only child whose mother hated him, Truffaut found comfort in reading and later in developing cinema.
Antoine’s unhealthy relationship with his adoptive father reflects that of the director. Throughout his early childhood Francois experienced abuse quite often from his father and had a terrible relationship with him. After young Francois committed minor robberies as a child, his father turned him over to the police. It’s no surprise that one of the more relevant motifs throughout Truffaut’s work is paternity. By inserting the mellow-dramatic scenes of Antoine and his “always busy” father he can insert a glimpse of what his life was like as well. In The 400 Blows, the common question is “Where is the father?”, a phrase which resonates both within the film and in the director’s life as well. Through aspects of paternity Truffaut crafted his childhood into a cinematic piece which depicts his early childhood magnificently.
Geoffery StJulien 