The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Poor Antoine doesn't have much luck in life. After running away from home and ending 'The 400 Blows' in an observation centre for troubled youths, he is now working in a record factory, and completely failing with the girl he likes. Rather than fall into melodrama, Antoine appears now as just a regular teenager, with a passion for music, a little shy, and inexperienced with women, and we see the social mask one wears over their true emotions. From the concert, to the movies, to the hotel opposite Colette's home, we experience the swell of hope at the sight of her, to the crushing rejection as she looks for polite excuses to turn him away. It could not be captured on film more accurately - the dreaded friend zone.The black and white cinematography is handled in the same assured manner as its predecessor.

Curiously and unusually, instead of a full-length movie, Monsieur Truffaut made a short out of the 2nd film about Antoine Doinel. The following 3 sequels are full-length movies and colored, while this one is still in black and white. In all of the 5 movies, Antoine Doinel is portrayed by Jean Pierre-Léaud.This one takes place 3 years after the events of the original. Antoine Doinel is now 17 years old, lives alone, has a passion for music (especially opera and classical music) and a job: he manufactures LPs at Phillips. His friend René, from 'The 400 Blows', is back and still portrayed by Patrick Auffay. Antoine and René are still great friends.Antoine experiences for the first time what it's like to be in love. He falls in love with a girl named Colette who, unlike him, is still a student. Colette has a nice family who supports both her and Antoine. However, his happiness doesn't last, as Colette obviously doesn't love him.Like 'The 400 Blows', this 'Antoine et Colette' is also an autobiographical work for Truffaut, based on events of his own life at the age of 17.Overall, a decent sequel to 'The 400 Blows', although naturally not as good. Even though I like 'The 400 Blows' much better, there's nothing overly negative to criticize about this follow-up, except for one small detail: René said a few times he was in love with his cousin. I hope I have misunderstood what I thought I heard. Wasn't that practice banned like centuries ago? I can't imagine such thing still happening in 1962.

I have been looking for a copy of "Stolen Kisses" for some time, and so I was glad I finally found it--or thought I'd found it. While my sole reason for wanting to see it was to see the Truffaut segment featuring the character "Antoine Doinel", I was VERY surprised to see a DVD with ONLY this 30 minute portion from the movie on it--along with a Truffaut short, Les Mistons! What about the segments from Love At Twenty by Ophuls and the other directors? They were nowhere to be seen on the FOX/Lorber DVD! The same can be said about the DVD extra for "The 400 Blows"--it has the Doinel short but none of the rest of the film. Quel dommage! Now, in regard to the Antoine Doinel segment, I was VERY glad I saw it, as it was the most interesting and endearing I ever saw the character. Doinel appeared in several other Truffaut full-length films and this small segment was the final one I needed to see to complete them. It was lighter in tone and "cute" compared to the other incarnations--much lighter than 400 blows or the other films that have a more wistful edge to them. You see a hopeful Doinel just reaching adulthood--a decent guy--just REALLY awkward with the ladies.

Truffaut's short film, made to pacify the curiosity eager fans of The 400 Blows as to the continuation of the lives of its disadvantaged characters, carries the same dry lack of emotion and still distances itself from us despite all its observation of and sympathy for the growing pains of Antoine Doinel. Though it is perhaps good that there is a distance kept because of its logical understanding of Antoine's experiences which leave him confused and painfully humbled.Jean-Pierre Leaud, who played Antoine in The 400 Blows, experiences the seemingly apocalyptic feeling of rejection, as Collette, the fixed object of his desire, has no interest in him regardless of all his efforts to entice her with frequent stopovers, invitations to concerts, and other woos. He even follows his self-assured friend's approach of writing letters, but with what appears to be no avail. Just as with The 400 Blows, we are left to ponder this perplexing phase in this character's life, causing us to reflect on our own painful memories of growing pains and the humility and self-doubt that accompanies it.