Film Class Blog for The 400 Blows

As the first film in the next stage of our course, The 400 Blows represents the departure from “Hollywood’s Golden Age,” which we have been studying, and onwards towards the next era in film making. An influential film that was part of the so-called “French New Wave” movement, The 400 Blows follows the trials and tribulations of a troubled young boy on the streets of Paris. This movie is a stark departure in many ways from what we have seen previously this semester. For one, it is our first foreign-language film, done entirely in French except for one quick scene depicting the school’s English lesson. Second, one can tell that it was largely shot on location, or at least not in a traditional studio setting on a sound stage. Third, it was just a different style of filmmaking than the traditional Hollywood, big studio, big budget film. It was made to look more lowkey and there was quite obviously a concerted effort to separate it from the bigger production films of the day. One could say that the film is more “Artsy” than what we have seen previously and more “Artsy” than what was really the norm back then. Today, independent films have their own niche in the film industry. Back then, it was not so much the case. Without the big production company backing, it would have been hard to get enough attention to make any money. Now, I do not know if this was an Independent film, but it certainly came off that way stylistically to me. And regarding it being a foreign language film, this is obviously another sign that it was a departure from Hollywood, as obviously all Hollywood films were American made and done in English. This broadens our perspective of the film industry as not just revolving around one are in southern California, but rather an international business.