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The 400 Blows Trivia Questions

How much do you really know about The 400 Blows? Below are 8 true or false statements. Click each one to reveal the answer and explanation.

1.

Director François Truffaut based the main character on his own troubled childhood.

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Easy
✓ TRUE

Truffaut had a difficult upbringing and was sent to a reformatory, directly inspiring the autobiographical elements in the film.

2.

The young star, Jean-Pierre Léaud, was a trained actor from a prestigious drama school.

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Medium
✗ FALSE

Léaud was cast with no formal training—he was spotted by Truffaut at a child casting call and became an icon of French New Wave cinema.

3.

The film's title refers to a French phrase meaning 'to raise hell' or 'to cause trouble.'

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Medium
✓ TRUE

'Faire les quatre cents coups' is a French idiom for causing chaos or going wild, not literally about 400 blows.

4.

The famous final freeze-frame of Antoine running was an accidental camera jam.

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Medium
✗ FALSE

Truffaut deliberately chose the freeze-frame to capture Antoine’s ambiguous future; it was a planned artistic choice, not a technical error.

5.

The film was a box office flop in France but found success later in the United States.

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Medium
✗ FALSE

It was a hit in France from the start, drawing over 4 million viewers and earning critical acclaim that launched the French New Wave internationally.

6.

Truffaut was banned from French cinemas for his harsh film criticism before directing this movie.

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Hard
✓ TRUE

As a critic for Cahiers du Cinéma, Truffaut was so scathing that the Cannes Film Festival banned him for a time—ironic, since 'The 400 Blows' won Best Director there.

7.

The film was shot entirely on location in Paris, with no studio sets.

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Hard
✗ FALSE

While much was shot on location, some interior scenes—like the apartment—were built in a studio to maintain control over lighting and sound.

8.

The spinning amusement park ride scene was filmed with hidden cameras to capture real reactions.

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Hard
✓ TRUE

Truffaut mounted a camera on the ride and let it spin uncontrollably, catching genuine disorientation and fear from the young actor.

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