1. Mise-en-scène and Symbolism in 400 Blows and Roshomon
Pin Jun Liu
Professor Wenchi Lin
EL2033 Introduction to Film Studies (Final Paper)
2011/1/12
Roshomon was a city gate which worn down by the years without repairs. There
were three people took the shelter from the rain under the gate. They discussed a
crime. A drench of rain coincided with the theme. The rain symbolized the collapsing
of humanity which throughout the whole film. Before that, a man ran in the heavy
rain we couldn’t see him very clear. The scene in the film was very blurred and dirty.
The ground was miry and the man was splashed. We could find that all the scenes
were dirty and old: a broken gate, the muddy ground which was caused by the rain.
The beginning of the story, the director gave us the filthy scene that had an
implication of humanity. “Humanity “was the theme that running through the
beginning to the end. However, what we flashed back the happening process had to
through these three people’s narrations. Their mouth was the only media that we
realized the whole story. As a result, when our sight was taken to the temple, what
we heard first was the man’s murmur. The three man presented the different aspects
in the humanity which made me think about the personality that Freud‘s Structural
Psychology. The monk was superego, the servant was id, and the woodman was Ego
that made a balance between the superego and Id.
The entire film was conferring different aspects of humanity. When they talked
about the crime, the rain formed as the curtain. It symbolized the collapsing of
humanity. However, the film didn’t take sides. So, the director almost gave them the
equal space. The camera took them from the same distance and position. Even gave
them a close up shot to present their argument as if they did a confession to the
audience. The whole film was very orderly which presented the beauty of classical.
The main role was put in the middle of the frame. We could see their complete figure
to present their argument.
The film didn’t have lots of dialogues. The black and white presented a feeling of
silence film. The use of light shade becomes very important. When the woodman
walked into the forest, the director used a low angle shot to present the mottled light.
He also used a high angle to show the woodman’s advancing. The camera followed
his steps, which made the scene more dynamic and flowing. We could find that the
woodman’s figure was covered by the tree just like there was something freaky in our
life .We might be hoodwinked by it. The forest symbolized people’s mind. The reason
why the director made this scene more flowing was he hoped that the audience

2. could follow the woodman’s steps to see the happening of a crime smoothly. By
doing this the audience could go into the film’s world fast. On the other hand, there
was an implication that symbolized people always get into a maze of people easily.
The use of contraction was the reason why the film had the appeal for the audience.
The weather was hot that caused the lady masking a veil. People had a desire for
peeping at which made the lady more charming. The two factors were corresponding
that made the bandit have more desire for the lady. When the camera took the lady’s
hat which was placed in the side of the frame, the director gave the hat much time to
show some feeling of discomposed. To some extent, the hat and veil represented a
hint of chastity. This way of setting up which made us realize something wrong was
happening. When the woodman saw the dead body, he ran to the government office
gate. The track in shot was stopped, his pace became to disorder which symbolized
his senses was awake.
When witnesses were talking about the crime, they were put in the middle of the
frame very orderly. The form gave me some feeling of justice that highlighted the
atmosphere in the office in local government. They did a confession to the audience.
We realized the crime through their mouths. However, when the image which
showed the different ways how the crime was caused, there weren’t many dialogued
to describe the crime. Even the scene which describing the bandit was falling to the
horse, such a image should be dynamic, there weren’t many dialogues. As if the
explanation was imposed on the image. That caused a contradiction between image
and langue. The image was an expression of esthetics which was an element that the
director wanted to confer. So, he used this way to trace back the most primitive
esthetics.
When the different people to describe the crime, they did an advantageous
confession to themselves. It symbolized that people have something which they
wanted to maintain. That made a question to humanity. The physic was taken
possession by the samurai, describing the crime, It represented the implication “Lie
never disappeared even you had been dead”.
The end of the film, the servant was throwing the wood to make a fire. The weak
fire which in the drenching rain, liking the last hope to the bright side of humanity.
The servant’s position was in the front of the frame. He had a higher status than the
other two people. Because, up to present of the film, what the director to do was
showing the dark side of the humanity. However, the baby’s crying was the last test
for the humanity, when they found the baby, the position was reshuffled. Again, they
back to the equal status. When the rain was stopped, the sunshine appearing, which
appealed to the weak fire, it symbolized that there was bright side of the humanity.

3. The sharpest symbol in the 400 Blows was”imprison”. From the beginning to the
end in the film, the topic was fastened on the film. In the beginning of the film, we
were brought to view the Eiffel Tower, which was the biggest bomb that the director
thrown to us. Apparently, the scene was companied with the stringed music; it
should give us the feeling of easy, however, the low angle shot to the tower that
made it like a huge monster. It was like a monster which was impending and would
devour the children’s spirits. The tower was made from steel which had the same
material with the prison .In the end of the beginning of the film, we were even taken
to the underneath of the tower, it was the square shape as the shape of “prison”.
This way of setting up was fasten on the symbol of ‘”prison” again. However, the
symbol of “prison” was not only the body’s restriction, but whole society suppressed
the boy’s thought.
We could find that there was a partition in Antoine’s classroom, which was the
implication of “isolation”. As we thought, when he was kidding with his classmates,
liking a general kid’s behavior, however, he was force to stand outside the classroom
by his teacher. He was isolated from the right of education.
The apartment where Antoine lived was black and old. However, the space which
Antoine had was very narrow. When he was sleeping, his would be squeezed out of
the frame, just like his status in his family. Because, his room was small, when his
mother closed the door, the door’s shadow would fall on his body. The shadow was
like a heavy burden which bulling his small body. Just like what the whole society
gave to him.
The plot that he escaped from his home and school was shown in the film many
times. We could find that the road which he passing was full of obstacles. Instead of a
broad way, what he brought us to pass were black and narrow lanes. These narrow
lanes were hiding in the big society. By doing this, we could realize that there were
many black corners in the big city. When Antoine escaping from the school, even the
society, pursuing to the freedom that he aspiring after, there weren’t places he could
stay. The factor where he stayed was full of machines and sacks. This time, he still
had a narrow space to sleep just like the position that he could own in his family.
That was a great irony. What he should get from the society, when he escaping from
the big trap, the society still didn’t gave to him.
Escaping from his family, he walked on the road by himself. It seemed that the
freedom was companied by the lonesome. We would show sympathy to him when
we saw the scene. However, the director used the shining sigh in a shop window to
enhance our sympathy. The scene and Antoine’s situation became to an intense
contrast.
In the morning, he washed his face in front of the fountain. It symbolized his

4. comprise to the society. The camera took him from the far distance, making his figure
look so tiny. We suddenly saw the light, realizing that he was just a kid!
Compared to the big society, his figure was so small.
The director used the technique of documentary which making the film like a real
story. As Antoine was taken to the police office, he was imprisoned in the small jail.
We could see that his figure was restricted under the jail, making his space smaller.
He was isolated from the society. On the way to the reformatory, we could see his sight
of his back, just like he kept away from us and telling us not to inquire about his mind
because he was a kid who was abandoned by the society.
The final scene that he escaped from the reformatory lasted a long time. It seemed
that he was eager to take us to see the world which symbolized by freedom. However,
the director used a shaking shot to remind us that the story was just a film. What
important was the implication behind the film. We should value the education system
and the family support. When Antoine looked after the camera, just like his accusation
to the society. The words “Fin” in the last scene, was imprison to Antoine.
References:
再見楚浮/ Don Allen 著 張靜蓓譯 1991 遠流出版社
武者的遺跡/ Stephen Prince 著 刁筱華譯 1995 萬象出版