Francois Truffaut's Adventures of Antoine Doinel (The 400 Blows / Antoine & Collette / Stolen Kisses / Bed & Board / Love on the Run) (The Criterion Collection)
The Adventures of Antoine Doinelcaptures François Truffaut's  alter ego (played by Jean-Pierre Léaud) over the span of five films and 20  years. Truffaut's first feature wasThe 400 Blows(1959), in which Doinel  is a boy who turns to petty crime in the face of neglect at home and hard times  at a reform school. The film helped usher in the heady spirit of the French new  wave and introduced the Doinel character. Poignant, exhilarating, and fun  (there's a parade of cameo appearances from some of the essential icons and  directors from the movement), this film is an important classic.The second film to feature Doinel, "Antoine and Collette" (1962) was originally  made for the omnibus filmLove at Twentybut has outlived its companion  shorts. As romantic and gently ironic asThe 400 Blowsis harsh and  haunting, this modest 20-minute lark finds a teenage Antoine pursuing the  lovely, lithe 20-year-old Colette (Marie-France Pisier) like a lovesick puppy.  The comic sweetness of this episode sets the tone for all future Doinel films,  and Léaud, who matured into the poster boy for the French new wave, displays the  lanky charm and self-effacing egotism that propelled him through some of the  greatest films of the next two decades.Stolen Kisses(1968) opens with the now-grown Doinel sprung from military  prison with a dishonorable discharge. He woos the perky but unresponsive object  of his affections, Christine (Claude Jade), while he engages in a series of  professions--hotel night watchman, private investigator, TV repairman--with  mixed success and comic entanglements. But when he falls in love with the  elegant wife of his client (Delphine Seyrig), Christine realizes she misses  Antoine's persistence and clumsy passes, so she embarks on a seductive plan of  her own.Bed and Board(1970) finds Doinel married to Christine and still plugging  away at odd jobs. He learns of his impending fatherhood, but then throws a  monkey wrench into his new happiness when he becomes obsessed with a beautiful  young Japanese woman (Hiroku Berghauer). Truffaut enlivens Doinel's courtyard  apartment with the bustle and business of neighbors and pays homage to comic  auteur Jacques Tati. However, he tempers the giddy screwball kookiness with a  less forgiving disposition toward Antoine's passionate irresponsibility and  emotional impulsiveness.Love on the Run(1979) was Truffaut's last film in the series. Here, our  compulsive liar and general scamp is found out time and time again, but, as the  women of the film find, it's impossible to blame him entirely. The film stands  on its own as a light comedy but carries much more resonance if watched in its proper place in the series.