The 400 Blows - Literary Elements

The film The 400 Blows is packed full of literary elements.  There are two that I would like to focus on today.  Character and and tone.

Francois Truffaut based the characters in this film off of his own difficult childhood.
His biological father was unknown to him and his mother was not very "motherly".  She, in fact, left him to be raised by his grandmother until he was about eight years old. When he did live with his parents, he got into trouble at school and basically took care of himself.  He found his escape in films.

We see the characters of Truffaut's life played out by Antoine and his parents on screen.  Antoine is being raised by a man who is not his biological father.  His mother is also not very "motherly".  There is, in fact, no space for Antoine physically or emotionally in his parents lives. He literally sleeps in the entry way to their apartment.

The overall tone of this film also relates back to Truffaut's life.  It is a tone of realism.  There are no fancy special effects, no sugar-coating life.  There are no poor people living in big, fancy apartments.  We see Antoine's life for what it is.   A working-class family living in a tiny apartment trying to do life the best way that they know how.
If you are looking for a feel-good movie to escape the realities of your busy life, this is not the movie to see.  However, if you want to see life through someone else's eyes and get a sense of what life was really like for a young boy growing up in post World War II France, this is definitely a must see.