What Locations Were Used To Film The 400 Blows In Paris?

I love how 'The 400 Blows' feels like a photo album of Paris life in 1959. Most of Truffaut’s team shot exteriors on real Paris streets — apartments, school playgrounds, alleyways and the kind of corners that give the film its authenticity — while more delicate interior setups were done at studios in the Paris area. That mix (on-location exteriors + studio interiors) was typical for the time and helps the film feel both intimate and cinematic.

Important to note: the film’s closing shot isn’t in Paris at all but on a Normandy beach, which gives that sudden, open-ended sense at the end. If you want to pinpoint each Paris spot, the best approach is to consult film location listings or pause the movie and match building details in Street View — it’s a fun little project that makes the film even more alive.

I’ll be honest — I geek out over location trivia, and with 'The 400 Blows' the headline is simple: Truffaut shot most exterior scenes on real Paris streets and used studio space for controlled interiors. That mix gives the movie its gritty, lived-in look. The exterior sequences capture the feel of mid-century Paris neighborhoods — the sidewalks, stairwells, schoolyards and small local shops that frame Antoine’s life — while interiors were handled in studio spaces in the Paris region to keep things manageable for close-ups and scenes needing careful lighting.

Beyond Paris itself, the film’s last, wordless image is on a northern French beach, not in the city — the jump from cramped urban lanes to the open coast is deliberate and heartbreaking. If you want specifics, location databases like IMDb’s filming locations and French cinema archives list scene-by-scene spots, and cinephile walking tours in Paris sometimes map the exact addresses used in New Wave films. For a hands-on thing: pause any scene you love, grab Street View, and try to match the building façades — it’s a nerdy, surprisingly rewarding way to learn the city through Truffaut’s eyes.

I still get a little thrill tracing shots from 'The 400 Blows' through Paris — it's like following footprints left by Antoine down the city streets. Truffaut shot much of the film on location rather than on studio backlots, so you see real Parisian apartments, schoolyards and streets. Interiors and some controlled scenes were filmed at studios in the Paris region (many French productions of that era used Billancourt/Boulogne studios for the interior work), but most of the film’s emotional life lives outside on actual Paris streets and in authentic locations around the city.

If you watch closely you’ll notice the film’s strong presence in central Paris neighborhoods: cramped stairwells, narrow streets and the classic Latin Quarter atmosphere that matches the film’s school and family scenes. Truffaut favored real places — the family apartment, Antoine’s wandering through neighborhoods, the school exteriors — all breathe with genuine Parisian texture. The sequence where Antoine keeps running away eventually moves beyond the city: the famous final beach sequence was shot on the Normandy coast rather than in Paris itself, which gives that open, heartbreaking contrast to the earlier urban confinement.

For anyone who loves poking around cinema geography, I’d suggest pairing a screening of 'The 400 Blows' with Google Street View and a book or database on French film locations; you’ll spot bakery façades, café corners and stairwells that still feel lived-in. It makes watching it feel like a scavenger hunt through old Paris, and every familiar doorway makes the film hit a little harder.