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Voice-overs allow the audience to understand what Antoine thinks and what he wants to accomplish.
Ambiguity also plays a large role in the development of art cinema. Bordwell claims that classical narrative deviations -- ambiguity -- "are placed, resituated as realism (in life things happen this way) or authorial commentary (the ambiguity is symbolic)" (Bordwell 721). The 400 Blows has an open-ended conclusion that forces the audience to contemplate what will happen to Antoine when he is caught.
The 400 Blows appears to have influenced Milos Forman's Loves of a Blonde as both films share similar art cinema characteristics, and demonstrate narrative and character parallels. The protagonist in Loves of a Blonde, Andula, appears to want to escape her life, which is set against a realistic background. She is expected to perform the same tasks day in and day out and she is not given many opportunities to escape the life she leads. Additionally, Loves of a Blonde depicts psychologically complex characters similar to those found in the 400 Blows. Character parallels can be seen between Antoine...
Antoine is his teachers and peers, his parents, and by society (the 400 Blows). Andula faces similar rejection from Milda when she takes him up on his offer to visit him in Prague. This rejection forces Andula to return to her home and resume the life she had before meeting Milda. Like the 400 Blows, Loves of a Blonde ends ambiguously with Andula returning to her job at a shoe factory.
The parallels between the 400 Blows and Loves of a Blonde can be attributed to shared experiences and sentiments in post-World War II Europe. Both France and Czechoslovakia were occupied by Germany during the war and were subjected to the oppressive regimes. In the aftermath of the war, many people were anxious not only about the restoration of order, but also their futures. It is these shared experiences, and others, that contribute to parallels in art cinema across nationalities and generations.
Works Cited
The 400 Blows. Directed by Francois Truffaut. France: Cocinor, 1959. DVD.
Bordwell, David. "The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice." Film Theory and Criticism:
Introductory Readings. Eds. Leo Baudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2009. Print.
Loves of a Blonde. Directed by Milos Forman. Czechoslovakia:…
Works Cited
The 400 Blows. Directed by Francois Truffaut. France: Cocinor, 1959. DVD.
Bordwell, David. "The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice." Film Theory and Criticism:
Introductory Readings. Eds. Leo Baudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2009. Print.
Art Cinema and Theatre of Absurd In "The Art of Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice," David Bordwell provides a definition of what he believes constitutes art cinema in order to define the style as an artistic movement. In "The Theatre of the Absurd," Martin Esslin provides similar arguments about theatre as Bordwell does about film. Bordwell and Esslin both provide an analysis of the elements that distinguish art cinema
This is an apt title because of the gender inequality that the mid-1960s can be associated with, especially the depiction of either sex in films. Madeleine and her friends are depicted as socially unaware conformists who only live in the moment and don't care for the deeper meaning of life and so embrace popular culture. In contrast, Paul and Robert are seen as the opposite: nationalists, idealists, philosophers. However, as
Auteur theory is familiar to anyone who is a fan of the French cinema because the word originated as a description of a certain type of French film. Basically, it was a style that was directly connected to the director of the film, usually because he was both the involved in both writing the screenplay and directing the film. In the movies Week End by Jean-Luc Godard and The 400
The puppets enable Fugui to regain his self-esteem and give him a sense of creativity, as he is now capable of articulating his thoughts through the puppets. He is able to make a better living as a traveling entertainer than as a seller of needles and thread. When it became too painful to live in his old town where he was once so wealthy, Fugui flees and goes on the