--- title: "The 400 Blows: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-400-blows/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-400-blows" critics_score: 85 critics_reviews: 12 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The 400 Blows (1959): what the critics said Critics' score 85 from 12 reviews: 12 positive, 0 mixed, 0 negative. All twelve reviews are positive, and the praise lands in the same places. Most critics read the film as Truffaut’s account of his own unhappy childhood and admire how plainly it is told: the portrait of Antoine Doinel is called honest, unsentimental and free of false notes. Jean-Pierre Léaud is singled out again and again, for defiance in some accounts and for a mix of mischief and vulnerability in others. The closing image is mentioned by nearly everyone as the moment that stays, and several credit the film with shaping generations of film-makers. The spread is narrow. The cooler notices are the two from 1959: The New Yorker admires the young lead’s authority and the picture of a boy adrift among adults but stops short of a rave, and Variety, reporting from the festival, finds the technique uneven while calling Truffaut an important new director. Later reviews carry none of those reservations, and nobody holds the film’s sentiment against it; Slant treats the soft-heartedness as part of why it lasts. ## Radio Times — David Parkinson Rating 5 out of 5. Truffaut's largely autobiographical debut paints a grimly authentic portrait of troubled adolescence, with echoes of Vigo and neorealism. Jean-Pierre Léaud effortlessly conveys mischief and vulnerability as Antoine Doinel, and the audacious freeze-frame finale sent ripples around world cinema. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-lpjyj5/the-400-blows/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 8 August 1999. Ebert calls it one of the most intensely touching stories about a young adolescent, drawn from Truffaut's own life. He singles out the iconic final freeze-frame of the boy on the beach for its emotional power. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-400-blows-1959) ## The Guardian Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 6 January 2022. Truffaut’s sublime autobiographical debut is a portrait of the artist as an unhappy child receiving the blows of cruelty and humiliation. The critic singles out the heartstopping images of the children’s faces as they watch a Punch and Judy show for particular praise. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jan/06/the-400-blows-review-francois-truffaut) ## The New York Times — Bosley Crowther Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 17 November 1959. Crowther hails it as a small masterpiece for its clarity and honesty in depicting a boy's troubles. He praises the realistic, unsentimental portrayal without false notes. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1959/11/17/archives/screen-the-400-blows-a-small-masterpiece-from-france-opens.html) ## The Times — Ed Potton Rating ★★★★☆. 8 February 2019. Truffaut’s new-wave landmark shows young Antoine Doinel raising hell in a quaint way through truancy and petty crime, with a rebellion and restlessness that has influenced generations of film-makers. Jean-Pierre Léaud is full of misunderstood defiance as the neglected alter ego for Truffaut. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-400-blows-1959-review-5jfj3w6d2) ## Time Out — Nina Caplan Rating 5 out of 5 stars. 7 April 2009. Truffaut drew on his own neglected childhood to create a joyous New Wave debut about a delinquent boy who turns to lies and petty crime. The film captures the thrill of books, films and truancy through the eyes of a former critic now holding a camera, with the famous freeze-frame finale perfectly evoking the director's own uncertain but promising future. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-400-blows) ## Empire — Nick Dawson Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. Truffaut's debut spearheaded the French New Wave alongside Godard's Breathless. It is a classic coming-of-age film whose portrait of troubled Parisian adolescence remains vibrant, visually exciting and emotionally resonant. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/400-blows-review/) ## The AV Club — Ignatiy Vishnevetsky Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2020. The film is a landmark autobiographical debut that models countless coming-of-age stories and places the director's personal tastes and identification with the protagonist at the center. It balances sensitivity and ambiguity with a current of bitterness drawn from Truffaut's own experiences. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/almost-every-coming-of-age-movie-since-owes-a-debt-to-t-1844977042) ## Slant Magazine — Eric Henderson Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 16 April 2014. The 400 Blows remains one of the most vital New Wave films thanks to its symbiosis of real and reel life and its iconic freeze-frame coda that suggests the cinephiliac relationship between movies and experience. Truffaut's soft-hearted sentimentality and focus on the pop potential of personal story make it enduringly potent. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/the-400-blows-2014/) ## The New Yorker — John McCarten Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 21 November 1959. McCarten praises Truffaut's skill in showing a boy's confusion in an adult world, likening it to De Sica. He highlights the strong performances, especially the young lead's authority. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1959/11/28/no-sanctuary) ## Variety — Gene Moskowitz Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 1959. Festival review. Moskowitz finds it an engaging, moving film that gets deep into a boy's disorientation with school and parents. He notes Truffaut emerges as an important new director despite some uneven technical qualities. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1958/film/reviews/les-quatre-cents-coups-1200419377/) ## Eye for Film — Keith Dudhnath Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 10 January 2003. The critic praises Truffaut's direction and the performances for making the film a timeless, charming observation of a troubled boy's life rather than a conventional drama. They call it a powerful masterpiece and one of the best films they have ever seen. [Read the review](http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-400-blows-film-review-by-keith-dudhnath) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-400-blows.md