Truffaut on the Auteur Theory

a still from the final scene from The 400 Blows, one of
 the most famous ending scenes in modern cinema

French New Wave-The 400 Blows

The french new wave finds its birth in the transitional period after the era of WWII during the 50's and early 60's, where  there had been a gap during the opressive era for creating film in France, many directors before the war had gone into exile. it developed its voice under the film philosophy of 'auteur theory', this new wave of thinking about film was greatly influenced by french film critic and philosopher Andre Bazin, with auteur theory, Bazin stressed that film should be taken as something far more important than mere entertainment, that film has to portray the aesthetic, artistic vision of the director, just as much as a writer or a painter would express their personal feelings so should films be  a form of indulging into the personal artistic space of the directors mind. With the french new wave, directors experimented with philosophical concepts and new technical advances wich brought a new edge to film. The french new wave broke out in the late 50's, with many new directors one of wich was Francois Truffaut whose debut 1959 film The 400 Blows is one of the most well known films of this era and which Truffaut dedicates to Andre Bazin who had recently passed during the shooting of the film, The 400 Blows, is a semi autobiographical film of Truffaut's about an adolescent boy struggling through the hardships of having negligent parents and teachers, takes on criminal actions and is sent to a reform school, its a classic example of the french new wave, with its natural and raw story line, it evolves with a sort of realism, letting the whole film-acting, sound, setting take form and define the film on its own.