Let’s just assume that the Nouvelle Vague was all about youth, being fresh and new? I find that Les 400 Coups most fully captures this spirit. No matter of its relative subtlety to pictures like Adieu Philipine or A Bout de Souffle. I just can’t escape from the notion that within a decade’s time, the Nouvelle Vague had somewhat lost most of its enthusiastic origins in order to become a machine constantly manufacturing what had already become tradition. Is that true? Maybe, maybe not. I am really questioning the origins and downfalls of every movement. How they are perceived. For instance, ask anyone about the Nouvelle Vague and there’s a much smaller chance of talking about Muriel (1963, pay attention to the dates) or Les Creatures (1966) than A Bout de Souffle (1960, that it all might not have kicked off with out) or Les 400 Coups (1959). Please, don’t worry if that all seemed like nonsense, just read on: It’s well known by now that the story is that of a 14-year-old boy, Antoine Doinel. That he is smothered by every adult he knows because they fail to understand him. That eventually he becomes such a menace to them that he is sent to a brutal reform school from which he escapes, running until he reaches the sea. He stops at the shore, finally free of his world, and walks toward us and looks at us. But the very moment he does the frame freezes, zooms and the film ends. Surely one of the most beautiful sequences ever filmed, and I fear, that by writing about it, I may have killed it. But then, nothing can compare to actually witnessings it, this moment of perfect balance between radicalism and poignancy.