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Crime and Punishment in Francois Truffaut's The 400 Blows Critic Michael Klein stated in Film Comment that "The 400 Blows is a protest against our concepts of crime and punishment." Throughout The Four Hundred Blows (1959), Truffaut depicts protagonist Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud) being subjected to multiple and various punishments. His teacher forces him to stand in a corner, forces him to do extra homework, and ultimately threatens to phone the boy's parents—all in the first ten minutes of the film. Antoine's punishments get more severe as the film continues until he is finally placed in a home for juvenile delinquents. Yet, for Antoine to be punished, those in power have to consider Antoine guilty of crimes, but, for the audience, whatever Antoine's crimes are—real or perceived—they never seem to merit the punishment he receives. The punishments he receives from his teacher result when he looks at a pin-up in class, then, in retribution for being punished, writes a nasty comment on the wall and fails to completely clean it from the wall. Like these "crimes," several of Antoine's other actions that lead to his being punished are merely the minor transgressions of youth. He skips school, tries to excuse himself by lying to the teacher, and uses a class assignment to pay homage to one of his idols, Balzac. The last, in fact, hardly seems worthy of punishment. Yet, because of these actions, he is slapped by his father and suspended from school, which makes him feel as if he cannot return home. That Antoine's punishments are more severe than his "crimes" suggests that Truffaut's "protest," as Klein puts it, is against the social institutions, such as family and school, that mete out punishments for minute transgressions and seek to repress the normal impulses of youth. In the film, Antoine only commits one crime that is actually worthy of the term, the theft of a typewriter from his father's office. Yet, even that action seems little more than youthful folly. He steals the typewriter but does not realize that he will not be able to either sell or pawn it without a receipt because typewriters are numbered. Thus, he decides to return it to his father's office at the risk of being caught. This attempt seems to negate the severity of the crime and makes the resulting punishment—Antoine's exile to a home for juvenile delinquents—seem particularly harsh. Indeed, that institution and the various police facilities Antoine passes through on his way to the home are more repressive than either school or family. At the police station, he is moved from one cage to another and eventually into a cell. Literally caged, his spirit is also contained and confined while he is there. Then, he is sent to the home where even eating a few moments before it is time—a natural action for a growing boy—merits a slap. Antoine eventually escapes from the home, but as many critics have pointed
out, his escape does seem like a triumph over the system. Rather, he seems confused
and forlorn. When he reaches the sea, it is not an accomplishment of a long
time goal but a final disappointment or merely another boundary placed against
him. Indeed, his experiences in the film have already denied Antoine of the
freedom of childhood; his natural impulses have been repressed by unfeeling
social institutions. In his book, The Great Movies, William Bayer says "In
The Four Hundred Blows society may have deprived Antoine Doinel of
a portion of his soul" (218). Klein argues that Truffaut wishes to get
us "to regard life with tolerance." Indeed, in the film, Truffaut
presents tolerance for the little indiscretions and eccentricities that make
us human is what allows the soul to remain intact and at liberty.
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