MovieChat Forums > Les quatre cents coups (1959) Discussion > Antoine's father

Antoine's father

posted 11 years ago by cesarat37
2 replies | jump to latest

I always thought he was the most likeable character of the movie, because although i sympathized with Antoine, i didn't like him too much (a bit foolish and too careless, in my opinion). He was always encouraging his son to be a good person and he had a nice temper (except the scene when he got fed up and hit Antoine at school). I always had the feeling that Antoine's rebellion was a reaction against his mother's behavior, who didn't care much for him and was adulterous/cheater.

[–] bts1984 11 years ago

Antoine's stepfather (not biological father) is generally an easy-going guy, at least he is much friendlier that the mother. While he has a generally good temper, sometimes he is impatient too. Although he isn't kind when he slaps Antoine at school, the worse is when he lights a disposable lighter on Antoine when he accidently causes a fire. That must be traumatizing! Imagine the fright of having a disposable lighter with a flame on THAT next to you.

«I was on the fire escape! I saw ya!»

[–] mrpinbert 8 years ago

His step-father still comes of better looking that the mom though. Throughout the first half of the film he was pretty nice to Antoine and seemed genuinely affectionate for the kid, to the point where I didn't even realize that he was his stepfather!

Besides Antoine had been acting pretty bad and he might have thought that showing a more stern and disciplined nature would be good for Antoine. Because honestly you do need to let a kid know when he has crossed a line.

Zardoz (1974) has spoken!
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