Art Cinema-400 Blows and Loves Essay

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 and Andula, who both end up being rejected by the people they thought they could trust.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......