Antoine Doinel

fictional character

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June 25, 2026

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Antoine Doinel is a fictional character, widely considered to be the alter ego of French film director François Truffaut. The character first appeared in Truffaut's 1959 film, The 400 Blows, which launched the French New Wave cinema movement.1

The somewhat autobiographical story follows 12-year-old Doinel, portrayed by Jean-Pierre Léaud, as he navigates a difficult childhood marked by distant parents and an unsupportive school system. Doinel's struggles lead him into petty crime, and the film explores how the adults around him, including misguided parental figures and an unjust juvenile justice system, exacerbate his problems rather than helping him. Léaud reprised the role of Doinel in four subsequent films, tracing the character's life through adulthood.12

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Jean-Pierre Léaud
…to play the misunderstood adolescent Antoine Doinel in François Truffaut’s first feature-length film, Les Quatre Cents Coups (1959; The 400 Blows). Léaud appeared in four more Truffaut films which traced Doinel’s progress through physical maturity, courtship, marriage, fatherhood, and finally divorce: L’Amour à vingt ans (1962; Love at Twenty), Baisers…
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…to play the misunderstood adolescent Antoine Doinel in François Truffaut’s first feature-length film, Les Quatre Cents Coups (1959; The 400 Blows). Léaud appeared in four more Truffaut films which traced Doinel’s progress through physical maturity, courtship, marriage, fatherhood, and finally divorce: L’Amour à vingt ans (1962; Love at Twenty), Baisers…
Read More