‘The 400 Blows’: The French New Wave film that influenced Steven Spielberg’s approach to cinema
It’s rare you’ll find a filmmaker who doesn’t cite at least one French New Wave film as deeply influential. Whether it be Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless or Agnes Varda’s Cleo from 5 to 7, these revolutionary pieces of filmmaking significantly shaped the direction of modern cinema, especially Hollywood.
Following years of rather traditional and studio-bound filmmaking, the nouvelle vague championed a more experimental kind of cinema, using handheld cameras and on-location shooting, naturalistic dialogue, and unconventional, sometimes playful, editing techniques, like disjointed narratives. One of the first movies from this period to make a significant dent in the mainstream as a groundbreaking work of art was The 400 Blows, helmed by François Truffaut, which won him ‘Best Director’ at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film is a tender exploration of adolescence, with Jean-Pierre Leaud playing the young Antoine Doinel, who resorts to petty crime and rebellious behaviour. He struggles to stay out of trouble, even when he is trying his best to be good, like when he is chastised for ‘plagiarising’ Balzac, even though he has genuinely dedicated himself to reading the acclaimed writer’s work.
He continually gets punished for his bad behaviour, but Truffaut creates an empathetic portrait of a child who is simply misunderstood and not given the proper nurturing to flourish at school and at home. With gorgeous depictions of childhood innocence and excitement, such as when Antoine goes on a spinning fairground ride, as well as emotional scenes that highlight his fragility, like when a tear rolls down his cheek as he rides in the back of a police van, The 400 Blows is a perfect film, and it is no wonder it has influenced so many filmmakers.
One director who the film has greatly shaped is Steven Spielberg, who even cast Truffaut in his film Close Encounters of the Third Kind out of admiration for the filmmaker.
How did The 400 Blows influence Steven Spielberg?
Truffaut’s preoccupation with childhood in The 400 Blows certainly inspired Spielberg’s approach to depicting young characters going through formative experiences in their lives. Most prominently, movies like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Empire of the Sun reflect the filmmaker’s interest in childhood, especially boyhood, depicting his characters’ experiences of extraordinary circumstances with tenderness and respect.
The character of Elliott Taylor in E.T, for example, was inspired by Spielberg as a child, just like how Truffaut was influenced by his own upbringing when creating Antoine. Elliott frequently finds himself feeling alone and left out, hence why he befriends the alien, while Antoine takes to rebelliousness as a way to find a sense of belonging. These forms of escape reflect a desire to find some semblance of understanding, which they don’t otherwise get from the adults in their lives.
While Spielberg’s oeuvre is very different to Truffaut’s overall, you can tell that the former was inspired by the French filmmaker’s dedication to constant creative progression and his utilisation of honest storytelling that resonates with viewers.
Discussing his admiration for Truffaut, Spielberg once said: “He’s a fantastic guy he really is. He loves movies more than anybody I’ve ever met in my life. You can take all this new Hollywood bullshit and get all of us guys sitting in a room together and he puts us away. He knows more about movies than any of us ever will.”
