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Part of The Age of Innocence: Growing Up in the Movies!
Join Jeffrey Bender as we rush into the heady days of youth (and all the emotional turmoil that goes with it) in this six-film survey about childhood and adolescence as depicted through the cinematic medium. Parents and their children are encouraged to attend the films in this series! (A content advisory for each film can be found at the bottom of the film's page.)
This screening of The 400 Blows will feature a special remembrance of the late Dr. Graham Petrie, a long-time professor of Film at McMaster and one of our first Film Talk hosts, and who actively corresponded with the film's director Francois Truffaut throughout his lifetime. We will be joined by members of his family and other noted guests in paying tribute to one of the Westdale's best and earliest champions.
François Truffaut’s first feature is also his most personal. Told through the eyes of his cinematic counterpart, Antoine Doinel, The 400 Blows sensitively re-creates the trials of Truffaut’s own childhood. For young Antoine, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days with his best friend, Rene, trying to plan for a better life. When one of their schemes goes awry, Antoine ends up in trouble with the law, leading to even more conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures. The film marked Truffaut’s passage from leading critic to trailblazing auteur of the French New Wave.
Presented in French with English subtitles.
Recommended Age for Children: 12+ (mild violence, mild sexual content, limited profanity, tobacco use)
Jeffrey Bender
Jeffrey Bender has hosted a number of in-person and online Film Talks with the Westdale, most recently a three-film 'select-rospective' on the films of Mel Brooks and Whodunnit at the Westdale, a series focusing on classic murder-mysteries from the 60s and 70s. He joins us this fall to host the The Age of Innocence, a selection of films told from the perspective of childhood and adolescence, as well as serving as one of the guest speakers for Noir-vember, featuring a survey of classic and contemporary film noir.