Question 1

True or false: Director François Truffaut based the main character on his own troubled childhood.

Accepted Answer

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

Question 2

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

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

Question 4

True or false: The famous final freeze-frame of Antoine running was an accidental camera jam.

Accepted Answer

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

Question 5

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 6

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 7

True or false: The film was shot entirely on location in Paris, with no studio sets.

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 8

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

Accepted Answer

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

The 400 Blows Trivia Questions