The 400 Blows Ending & Sequels Explained

While François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows is a famous addition to the French New Wave, its ambiguous ending leaves viewers without any clear answers. Truffaut was one of the leading voices of the French New Wave movement, and the director helped shape the aesthetic of independent cinema with movies like Jules et Jim, Shoot the Piano Player, and Fahrenheit 451. However, before any of those projects made him an icon, Truffaut made a name for himself with his 1959 feature directorial debut, the coming-of-age drama The 400 Blows. While The 400 Blows features some of the experimental techniques that Truffaut made famous, the movie is mostly a straightforward Bildungsroman.