The story paints a grimly authentic portrait of troubled adolescence, with 13-year-old Jean-Pierre Léaud effortlessly conveying both mischief and vulnerability in the lead role.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 9, 2024

Jean-Pierre Léaud’s revelatory turn...

| Feb 11, 2023

As far as great filmmakers’ fictionalized childhood stand-ins go, Antoine Doniel would probably steal Sammy Fabelman’s lunch money and stuff him in a locker.

| Dec 11, 2022

“The 400 Blows” is a gripping and deeply penetrating picture that instantly grabbed me with its heartfelt realism and its crisp visual style.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 20, 2022

Sympathetic, amused, reminded, occasionally puzzled, you are carried along with it. I don't think you will get away before the end.

| Aug 10, 2022

The 400 Blows makes one wish Truffaut had allowed it to be a singular work, as the possibility contained within the film's final shot remains one of the most compellingly equivocal yet moving images in all of cinema.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Mar 2, 2022

A portrait of the artist as an unhappy child.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jan 6, 2022

Truffaut has a knack for communicating the uneasiness of life about him, of the fussy and despoiled, though too often he achieves it by diddling his people and situations annoyingly like a piano player stoically hitting the same sour note.

| Sep 15, 2021

I have to say I really enjoyed The 400 Blows. Its authenticity, wonderful performances, and examination of youth made the film impactful and easy to watch.

| Mar 24, 2021

To sum up, what shall I say? This: Les 400 Coups will be a film signed Frankness. Rapidity. Art. Novelty. Cinematograph. Originality. Impertinence. Seriousness. Tragedy. Renovation. Ubu-Roi. Fantasy. Ferocity. Affection. Universality. Tenderness.

| Feb 2, 2021

Truffaut's natural direction is a master stroke for this film.

| Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 8, 2020

One of the most moving films ever made about adolescence.

| Aug 11, 2020

It would be impossible to screen a more infectious film than The 400 Blows.

| Dec 11, 2019

Film connoisseurs should try not to miss it. François Truffaut's first movie has instantly established him as one of the most gifted directors in the business.

| Dec 11, 2019

Without ever being sentimental, the film draws a moving contrast between the purity, honesty and sheer courage of the boy and the corruption or obtuseness of the adults who control his life.

| Jul 11, 2019

The cinematography by Henri Decaë is gorgeous and 400 Blows is great to watch just on a technical level.

| Original Score: A+ | Apr 11, 2019

[The 400 Blows'] most prevalent connection to the then burgeoning French New Wave is its message of freedom

| Mar 18, 2019

This beautiful, tough and some- times funny film is a lesson (by implication) in love : here's what it does, being without it.

| Jul 19, 2018

Truffaut imbues the movie with the irrepressible energy and optimism of youth.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Oct 29, 2015

Childhood's frustrations for Truffaut are never far from its lilting delights

| Jul 31, 2015