Barnes & Noble

François Truffaut did not conceive Antoine Doinel, the French auteur's rascally onscreen alter ego, to be a recurring character. But after becoming an instant icon of the French New Wave as the protagonist of The 400 Blows in 1959, Antoine reappeared in three more of the director's features and one short film over the 20 years that followed, always played with passion by Jean-Pierre Léaud. This Criterion Collection box set includes the complete Doinel film series as well as a bonus disc with a near overload of background materials. This wonderful set opens with Truffaut's debut masterpiece, The 400 Blows, in which we meet wayward Antoine, a 14-year-old who turns to street life and petty crime in response to neglect at home. At the age of 15, the precocious Léaud already imbued Antoine with a complexity and emotional reality that many actors who are twice as old still rarely show. Antoine returned in Antoine and Collette, a short that was part of the 1962 omnibus film Love at Twenty. Presented alone here, Antoine and Collette sets the sweet-and-sour tone for the subsequent Doinel films. By Stolen Kisses (1968), Antoine has matured into a lovable rogue, trying to balance his awkward reintegration into civilian life after a dishonorable military discharge. He makes clumsy romantic passes, first at the energetic Christine (Claude Jade), and then at his boss's wife (Delphine Seyrig). Antoine and Christine have married in Bed and Board (1970), but he suddenly becomes obsessed with a young Japanese woman (Hiroku Berghauer). In the final Doinel film, Love on the Run (1979), Antoine is more of a scamp than ever, blowing through life briskly, woman after woman. When watched separately, the later films play as light comedy, but when they are watched in context with the poignant drama of The 400 Blows, Doinel appears more as a melancholy character leaning toward the lonelier side of a free spirit. Indeed, the lovable and somehow forgivable scamp in Love on the Run developed out of the antisocial milk thief in The 400 Blows. This complexity, rarely seen in cinema, is no doubt due to Truffaut's fabulous direction as much as Léuad's all-consuming performances. Viewing the character's arc in this context is a treat, indeed. Tony Nigro

All Movie Guide

For his feature-film debut, critic-turned-director François Truffaut drew inspiration from his own troubled childhood. The 400 Blows stars {|Jean-Pierre Léaud|} as Antoine Doinel, Truffaut's preteen alter ego. Misunderstood at home by his parents and tormented in school by his insensitive teacher (Guy Decomble), Antoine frequently runs away from both places. The boy finally quits school after being accused of plagiarism by his teacher. He steals a typewriter from his father (Albert Remy) to finance his plans to leave home. The father angrily turns Antoine over to the police, who lock the boy up with hardened criminals. A psychiatrist at a delinquency center probes Antoine's unhappiness, which he reveals in a fragmented series of monologues. Originally intended as a 20-minute short, The 400 Blows was expanded into a feature when Truffaut decided to elaborate on his self-analysis. For the benefit of Truffaut's fellow film buffs, The 400 Blows is full of brief references to favorite directors, notably Truffaut's then-idol Jean Vigo. The film won the 1959 Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival, even though Truffaut had been declared persona non grata the year before for his inflammatory comments about the festival's commercialism. Hal Erickson

All Movie Guide

In the fourth installment of François Truffaut's Antoine Doniel series, this romantic comedy shows how Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) went from being a mischievous boy to an adorably charming young man of 26. Domicile Conjugal begins with Antoine settling down with Christine (Claude Jade), his girlfriend from the previous film, Baisers volés. He finds himself accepted and loved by his wife and her family, so the young couple move in to an apartment building together. They live in a lively neighborhood of interesting characters, such as the old man who never leaves and the opera singer who fights with his wife. Antoine finds work as a florist painting roses, while Christine makes a living by teaching violin lessons. After he gets involved in an accidental fire at the florist's, he gets a new job with an American corporation where he steers radio-controlled boats around a pond all day. A big change occurs when Christine becomes pregnant and gives birth to a baby boy, while Antoine grows increasingly distant. Eventually, he becomes infatuated with a Japanese girl, Kyoko (Hiroko Berghauer), resulting in some shifts in lifestyle. The fifth and final Antoine Doniel film L'Amour en fuite was released in 1979, picking up the story with Antoine after he reaches his thirties. Andrea LeVasseur

All Movie Guide

Antoine et Colette, which was originally made as an episode in the series L'Amour à vingt ans, was a sequel to Truffaut's The 400 Blows. In the film, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) works at the Philips record store and courts the elusive Colette (Marie-France Pisier). The story of Antoine Doinel continues on in Baisers volés/Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1970), and Love on the Run (1979). ~ All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

L'Amour en Fuite (Love on the Run) is presented in flashbacks from the previous four movies as Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) meets up with people from his past. As the fifth and final film in the series, Antoine is over 30 years old and meets with his wife, Christine (Claude Jade), to sign the papers for their divorce. As it is the first no-fault divorce of its kind in France, the press surrounds them. In the crowd is also Antoine's past love, Colette (Marie-France Pisier), who is now a lawyer and in love with Xaiver the Librarian (Daniel Mesguich). Antoine is in love with Sabine (Dorothée), but she breaks things off when he ditches her to go see his son at the train station. While he is there, he impulsively joins Colette on a train ride where they recall their past and go through his recent autobiographical novel. Finally, Monsieur Lucien (Julien Bertheau) also re-enters Antoine's life and they visit his mother's grave at Montmartre. Andrea LeVasseur

All Movie Guide

The episodic romantic comedy Stolen Kisses is the third installment in François Truffaut's Antoine Doinel series, which started with The 400 Blows in 1959. In 1968, Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) is discharged from the military and comes home to Paris, getting an apartment in Montmartre with an excellent view of the Sacré-Coeur. He meets up with his sweetheart, Christine Darbon (Claude Jade, making her film debut), and joins her and her parents for dinner (Daniel Ceccaldi and Claire Duhamel). With the help of Christine's father, he gets a job as a hotel clerk but quickly gets fired after he unwittingly aids a private detective (Harry Max). After running into the detective at a coffee shop, Antonie then falls into a job at the Blady Detective Agency, assisting with the investigation of a magician. He is then assigned to the case of neurotic Georges Tabard (Michel Lonsdale), and ends up working in the stock room of his shoe store. After Antoine has coffee with Tabard's beautiful and intelligent wife, Fabienne (Delphine Seyrig), she inevitably tries to seduce him. He later meets Christine in a park and proposes to her, taking the pair into the next film: Bed and Board. One of the lightest entries in the series, Stolen Kisses was ironically filmed during a turbulent political time in France. Andrea LeVasseur

Product Details

• UPC: 715515013529
• Source: CRITERION
• Aspect Ratio: Vistavision (1.66:1), Cinemascope (2.35:1)
• Presentation: B&W, Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital Stereo
• Language: Français, Japanese
• Subtitles: English
• Time: 6:52:00
• Sales Rank: 6,163

This set contains DVDs which may be available separately:

• Criterion Coll: 400 Blows
• Antoine et Colette
• Stolen Kisses
• Bed & Board
• Love on the Run

Features:

DVD MENU