Brief Word on "The 400 Blows"

The film entitled "The 400 Blows", directed by Francois Truffaut, like most new-wave French films, attempts to create a strong sense of reality. One of the ways in which the accomplished this was through the use of a prominently diegetic sound track. Take for example the scene right near the beginning of the film as the students are passing the provocative calendar photo around the class and the teacher catches the films protagonist, Antoine, with it. In a Classic Hollywood Narrative version of the film there would have been, most likely, some non-diegetic sounds of tense music in this scene as the students are passing the provocative calendar photo around the class and when Antoine is caught with it. Nevertheless, since this film is a prime example of the European art cinema style the use of diegetic, natural sound is favored heavily over the use of music or other added sounds. The effect that solely the use of diegetic sound has on the viewer is quite powerful because it truly captures the reality of the school classroom when the students are working individually on an assignment. In truth, throughout the course of the film there are only a few select parts where Truffaut inserts music into his film. Had The 400 Blows been produced in Hollywood there would have been music added in numerous scenes throughout the film where there is currently only diegetic sound when important events occur, such as when: Antoine takes the typewriter from his Father’s desk at work, when Antoine brings the typewriter back and gets caught by the security guard, when Antoine and Rene are skipping school and he sees his Mother and finally when Antoine is escaping from the corrections facility and running away from the soccer field.