There are only two types of movies a person can go see: Ones that have a beginning, middle, and end, nicely packaged so as to let the viewer leave the theater knowing exactly what happened and why; then there are those that rely more on the viewer’s ability to interpret and analyze, leaving him to think about the movie and come up with his own answers.

Director Francois Truffaut seems to prefer the latter, getting the French New Wave in full swing with his landmark film “400 blows.”

Less than a year later, Truffaut came out with this complex story about a pianist with a definite past and the conflicts that come about when you don’t face up to what you really are. “Shoot The Piano Player” is the WUD’s International Films offering, and it couldn’t possibly be a better offering of French New Wave at that.

Charlie Kohler (Charles Aznavour, “The Truth About Charlie”) is a piano player at the local bar. Expressionless in face, but speaking volumes when his fingers touch the keys, Kohler uses the piano to express what he could only hope. Things are nice and quiet for he and his brother, until a troublemaking sibling runs into the bar one night trying to escape two hoodlums looking for their fair share of money.

While all this is happening, the viewer is pulled a little bit further into Charlie’s life and also his inadequacies with loving others, ones he demonstrates quite well with the barmaid Lena (Marie Dubois, “Cross of the Living”). Charlie has reasons for being skittish in pursuing love with Lena, and these reasons come back to haunt him in a melancholy flashback sequence.

The pursuits of love with Lena have to take a back seat, though, when dealing with matters of the family. Soon, Charlie has to come to a decision that could either split him from the elations that love could bring, or the bonds that hold family together.

“Shoot The Piano Player” doesn’t have the beautiful cinematography that a Coen brothers movie would provide or a winding story a la Paul Thomas Anderson that ends up slapping together right at the end. What this film has is depth of human emotion, right to the point of feeling like you’re behind the camera while it’s bobbling around trying to capture Charlie’s brother running through the streets or on his walks with Lena.

The camerawork looks very handheld and put right up to the characters’ faces, which fits perfectly with the French New Wave style — right in your face with nothing fancy to keep you distracted.

So does love conquer all, or are we destined to be no matter what we try to do? See this movie, and come up with the answers of your own. Truffaut would have liked that, and you will too.

“Shoot the Piano Player” plays on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Union South in Room 109.