400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups) title sequence.

Whilst colour was beginning to dominate film the French New Wave (La Nouvelle Vague) stripped everything back to basics and used predominantly black and white. In this film 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups) directed by François Truffaut, we witness an intensely touching story of a misunderstood young adolescent who left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime. Black and white seems logical and also comfortable for this story set on the streets of Paris not too long after the World War 2. The imagery, whilst stark and cold also has an element of romance about it, suggests a classic view point of Paris that we will never see again.