Film Review
What is perhaps the defining characteristic of Louis Malle's cinema is
the complete absence of a well-defined style. Not only does this
accentuate the apparent lack of thematic cohesion in Malle's work, but
it ensures that his films are constantly fresh and surprising.
Whilst you know more or less what to expect when you sit down to watch
a film by Godard, Rohmer or Truffaut, the same is never true of
Malle. Nowhere is this more apparent than in his third film,
Zazie dans le métro, an
exuberant comic-book farce that could not be further from Malle's first
two films -
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud
(1958) and
Les Amants (1959) - in both
style and subject. You could almost mistake it for a Monty
Python send-up of a Jacques Tati film.
Zazie dans le métro is
based on the popular 1959 novel of the same title by avant-garde French
writer Raymond Queneau, a book which was widely considered to be
totally unadaptable for cinema. In common with some of the
director's later, more serious works,
Le Souffle au coeur (1971),
Lacombe
Lucien (1974) and
Pretty Baby (1978),
Zazie dans le métro is
essentially about a young person's coming-of-age. The approach
may be more theatre of the absurd than conventional drama, but the
underlying story is one that Malle had a particularly affinity for, the
turbulent passage from childhood to adulthood. It is not hard to
appreciate the symbolic significance of the Métro, the thing
that Zazie is so desperate to ride on but which remains resolutely
closed to her.
Louis Malle's funniest and most liberated film,
Zazie dans le métro is an
obvious homage to the comedy giants of the silent era, employing
slapstick, sight gags and camera effects with something of the tireless
brio of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. The zany, often surreal
humour reaches delirious heights - literally in the Eiffel Tower
sequence (a reference to René Clair's
Paris
qui dort, 1924) - and brilliantly transports us into the
chaotic and colourful world of a precocious young girl who is in too
great a hurry to grow up. This is the film that established
Philippe Noiret as one of French cinema's leading actors, at a time
when he was virtually unknown - he is gloriously silly as a preening
cabaret performer of dubious sexuality. Noiret may get the
laughs, but he only just manages to avoid being eclipsed by the film's
main star, Catherine Demongeot, whose mischievous broad toothy grin and
part-angelic, part-demonic persona have made her an enduring icon of
1960s French cinema.
Demongeot's Zazie is the Satanic twin sister of Truffaut's Antoine
Doinel, not merely a rebel but an enfant terrible of almost terrorist
proportions. Don't be taken in by that cute, elfin
exterior. She is a monster, a whirlwind in human form, brutally
assailing the adult world with a lethal mix of gamine innocence and
calculating malice. Yet Zazie is also a victim, the product of a
society that neglects its children and expects them to grow up too
quickly, before they have had a chance to develop their own
identity. Ironically, Demongeot proved to be the total opposite
of the character she played in this film. Although she did appear
in a few films after this, she soon gave up acting so that she could
concentrate on her studies. She went on to pursue a career as a
historian.
Whilst Louis Malle considered himself apart from the French New Wave,
Zazie dans le métro captures
the essence of the
nouvelle vague
more vividly than most films of this era - not only in the way that it
challenges the filmmaking conventions of its time, but also in its
uninhibited sense of fun and the way it tackles a familiar subject (the
clash between child and adult realities) from a fresh and interesting
perspective.
Zazie dans le
métro is seldom accorded the same respect as Malle's
other great films but it remains one of his most interesting and
provocative films, and certainly his most entertaining.
© James Travers 2011
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Louis Malle film:
Vie privée (1962)
Film Synopsis
During a two-day stay in Paris, 11-year old Zazie is foisted on her
uncle, Gabriel, whilst her mother goes off with a new boyfriend.
Zazie only wants to see the Métro, but a strike by underground
workers prevents this. When Gabriel's attempts to distract
his niece with a taxi tour of Paris fail, Zazie runs off to explore the
capital by herself. She comes across a strange mix of people, who
include an over-zealous policeman and a hysterical widow.
Although she has been deprived of her Métro ride, Zazie still
intends to have her fun, at the expense of all the adults she
meets...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.