Les 400 coups / The 400 Blows

An interesting article about a documentary on Godard and Truffaut in the NY Times today  reminded me of something I have been willing to write about for a while but never got the opportunity to. 

Coincidentally, there was this one in the Guardian detailing how, from September, French pupils will have access to about 200 film classics, mainly French but also foreign (Citizen Kane is listed) so that they can expand their knowledge. I can't slag that off. Especially if it's free.

Another film that is quoted in that article is Les Quatre cents coups, probably Truffaut's most famous work (see the link between the 2 articles?). 

It's the story of a kid who, neglected by his parents, starts acting up, skipping school, stealing, etc. and he ends up in a camp (I'm simplifying a bit). 

"Faire les 400 coups" is an expression that depicts perfectly what Antoine, the hero of the film, gets up to: mischiefs. It means to run wild, to live a wild life, to be a troublemaker, to raise hell.

The 400 Blows is another example of word to word translation that doesn't carry any of the weight of the original title, it's the sort of translations that my teacher warned me about when I was 15. I quote "Il pleut des cordes" does NOT translate to it's raining ropes! (but cats and dogs)". Principle I have been following ever since.

Again, I am not sure how I would have translated the expression. I read somewhere that "sow one's wild oats"would work, but I am not so sure, as it carries more sexual meaning that the French expression". I also found "to be a real tearaway" but that doesn't work either. 

Actually, there is a comment on Wikipedia about the title that says "The English title is a straight translation of the French, but misses its meaning, as the French title refers to the expression "faire les quatre cents coups", which means "to raise hell". On the first American prints, subtitler and dubber Noelle Gilmore gave the film the title Wild Oats, but the distributor did not like that title, and reverted it to The 400 Blows, which led some to think the film covered the topic of corporal punishment." 

Good point :)