Plot Summary

The 400 Blows
François Truffaut, 1959

François Truffaut’s first feature, The 400 Blows (Les Quatre cents coups), is also his most personal. Told through the eyes of Truffaut’s life-long cinematic counterpart, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), The 400 Blows sensitively recreates the trials of Truffaut’s own difficult childhood, unsentimentally portraying aloof parents, oppressive teachers, petty crime, and a friendship that would last a lifetime. The film marks Truffaut’s passage from leading critic of the French New Wave to his emergence as one of Europe’s most brilliant auteurs.

Three years after The 400 Blows took the world by storm, François Truffaut returned with the second chapter in the ongoing saga of romantic ne’er-do-well Antoine Doinel, Antoine and Colette. Originally appearing in the international omnibus film Love at Twenty, this nimble short subject is classic Truffaut, depicting a teenage Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) living on his own and pursuing his first love affair, initiating a lifelong career of quixotic dreams and amorous restlessness.

Bed and Board
François Truffaut, 1970

Available exclusively in The Adventures of Antoine Doinel Box Set -

The fourth installment in François Truffaut’s chronicle of the ardent, anachronistic Antoine Doinel, Bed and Board plunges his hapless creation once again into crisis. Expecting his first child and still struggling to find steady employment, Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) involves himself in a relationship with a beautiful Japanese woman that threatens to destroy his marriage. Lightly comic, with a touch of the burlesque, Bed and Board is a bittersweet look at the travails of young married life and the fine line between adolescence and adulthood.

Love on the Run
François Truffaut, 1979

Available exclusively in The Adventures of Antoine Doinel Box Set -

Antoine Doinel strikes again! In the final chapter of François Truffaut’s saga, we find Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), now in his thirties, convivially concluding his marriage, enjoying moderate success as a novelist, and clinging to his romantic fantasies. The newly single Doinel finds a new object of his affections in Sabine, a record store salesgirl whom he pursues with the fervid belief that without love, one is nothing. Along the way, he renews his acquaintance with previous loves and confronts his own chaotic past. In Love on the Run, Antoine Doinel is still in love and because he’s still in love, he’s still alive.

 
Stolen Kisses
François Truffaut, 1968

Available exclusively in The Adventures of Antoine Doinel Box Set -

Jean-Pierre Léaud returns in the delightful Stolen Kisses, the third installment in the Antoine Doinel series. It is now 1968, and the mischievous and perpetually love-struck Doinel has been dishonorably discharged from the army and released onto the streets of Paris, where he stumbles into the unlikely profession of private detective and embarks on a series of misadventures. Whimsical, nostalgic, and irrepressibly romantic, Stolen Kisses is Truffaut’s timeless ode tothe passion and impetuosity of youth. 

Special Features

• - 5-DVD Box Set includes:
• - New digital transfers of all films, enhanced for widescreen televisions
• - Truffaut's early short film, Les Mistons
• - Audio commentary for Les Mistons by assistant director and future co-writer Claude de Givray
• - Audio/visual "primer" for Les Mistons by film historian Serge Toubiana
• - Working with François Truffaut: Claude de Givray and Bernard Revon: An exclusive re-edited version of a 1986 interview with Truffaut co-writers Claude de Givray and Bernard Revon, originally conducted for Rainer Gansera's documentary Arbeiten mit François Truffaut
• - Excerpt from the rare documentary François Truffaut (1961) featuring Truffaut discussing his influences and beginnings, along with Les Mistons and The 400 Blows.
• - Interview from the 1981 French TV show Champ contre champ in which Truffaut discusses Jean-Pierre Léaud, and the challenges of creating films that are intensely personal, yet popular in appeal
• - Promotional art gallery for The 400 Blows, Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board and Love on the Run
• - Two audio commentaries for The 400 Blows: one by cinema professor Brian Stonehill and another by lifelong friend of Truffaut, Robert Lachenay
• - Rare audition footage of The 400 Blows stars Jean-Pierre Léaud, Patrick Auffay and Richard Kanayan
• - Newsreel footage of Jean-Pierre Léaud in Cannes for the showing of The 400 Blows
• - Excerpt from a French TV program with Truffaut discussing his youth, critical writings, and the origins of Antoine Doinel in The 400 Blows and Antoine and Colette
• - Television interview with Truffaut about the global financial reception of The 400 Blows and his own critical impression of the film
• - Theatrical trailers for The 400 Blows, Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board, and Love on the Run
• - Introduction to Stolen Kisses by film historian Serge Toubiana
• - Excerpt from the TV show Cinéastes de notre temps: François Truffaut, dix ans, dix films in which Truffaut discusses his vision of the Doinel cycle, and the complex relationship between Doinel and actor Jean-Pierre Léaud
• - Archival newsreel footage of the "Langlois Affair," documenting protests by Truffaut and other French film industry luminaries against the removal of Cinémathèque française director Henri Langlois
• - Promotional spot featuring Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut appealing for public support of Henri Langlois
• - Newsreel footage of Truffaut's impassioned rally to shut down the 1968 Cannes Film Festival in support of striking students and workers
• - Rare behind-the-scenes footage with Truffaut at work on the Bed and Board set, and being interviewed along with actress Claude Jade
• - Rare television interview with Jean-Pierre Léaud discussing his feelings about Truffaut and Antoine Doinel, and his thoughts about "ending" the series
• - Excerpt from the 1972 documentary Approches du cinéma: François Truffaut ou la nouvelle vague, in which Truffaut addresses the complexities of Antoine Doinel
• - Rare television interview excerpt of Truffaut and actress/co-writer Marie-France Pisier discussing their working styles and their feelings about Love on the Run
• - Excerpt from the 1980 TV show Cinescope in which Truffaut addresses his misgivings about his finale to the Doinel series, and illuminates his feelings about Jean-Pierre Léaud and Antoine Doinel
• - New and improved subtitle translation for all film