[Editor's Note: Originally published at Bohemian Cinema.]
A video essay (my first), exploring the similarities between the ending of François Truffaut's The 400 Blows and the beginning and ending of Jonathan Glazer's 2004 film, Birth. Based on an old essay of mine, The 400 Births.
Jonathan Pacheco is a current web developer and future freelance writer. He blogs and reviews films at Bohemian Cinema.
If you haven't already read this, you might be interested in the great essay 'Birth' of a Buñuelian Notion by Jim Emerson in which he points out the many visual similarities between Birth and Un chien andalou http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2006/06/birth_of_a_bunuelian_notion.html
An insightful piece (both video and written) on two movies I would never have connected. Nice.
I always wonder about instances like this — where one film exerts a powerful visual influence over another one that came along decades later, and the two movies have little in common thematically or tonally. (Or maybe they do — a possibility you tease out here.)
It's as if the earlier film tattooed itself on the brain of the director of the later film. Or maybe it's akin to how children subconsciously absorb and repeat mannerism and phrases of their parents, without being aware that they're doing it.
I've wondered about that. Did Glazer do all this intentionally? Rewatching "The 400 Blows" recently not only gave me a much greater appreciation for the Truffaut film, but it also helped me see a few more connections between it and "Birth," to the point that I could totally see Glazer doing this on purpose.
Then again, as far as I can tell, there's still enough ambiguity to support what you mentioned — the subconscious absorption of such images and themes. Life (and art) can be funny that way.
@Matthias: I remember seeing that one a while back. Revisiting Jim's comparisons makes me wonder even more about Matt's comments. Sure, these strong similarities couldn't exist purely by coincidence, or just subconscious absorption. Or could they?