No doubt, this is a masterpiece. There are at least two unforgettable sequences in this movie. The first is the puppet show, with those children's faces looking at the stage, quite out of anything that can be expressed by words... being so childish and perfectly baby-like, but at the same time so desperately resembling to the faces of us, adult spectators of movies and life. A second, extraordinary moment is the final encounter of the boy Doinel with the ocean, at the end of the movie. Out of the school-jail where they have sent him, he runs through the French countryside until he finds this long beach. When he finally reaches the water, he gives that sudden and unexpected look into the camera... that is when the movie ends, and we can't help being pervaded by a full, cosmic empathy with Antoine Doinel. Thank you Mr Truffaut.
Review of The 400 Blows
