Tirez sur le pianiste

Shoot the Piano Player, directed by Francois Truffaut, embodies a sense of balance.

Main character Charlie experiences extreme highs and extreme lows. This translates through the storyline. At one point, he is in love and ends up playing as a very successful concert pianist. At another, he is alone and playing at a neighborhood pub. The ending of his relationships with women intricately illustrate the same.

Although both of his women (in his intimate relationships) both die, they die due to opposite circumstances. On one hand, thugs shoot Lena. She runs through crossfire and stray bullets kill her. On the other hand, Theresa commits suicide because she fells death is the only resolution to her self-disguise. Therefore, thugs kill one and one kills herself. This existence of balance also exists in genre.

Francois Truffaut mixes genres in the film to even out the depressing misfortunes of Charlie, drama; slapstick and comical dialogue mingle within this story. By intertwining opposing extremes via plot and genre, he succeeds in portraying a sense of balance.