Zazie dans le Metro (1960)

 Louis Malle's "Zazie dans le Metro"


After his jazzy thriller "Elevator to the Gallows" and his erotic melodrama "The Lovers" debuted in 1958, Louis Malle went in a completely different direction with his next film, 1960's "Zazie dans le Metro." Although his previous two entries were a classification of the burgeoning Nouvelle Vague movement, "Zazie dans le Metro" pushed its foot on the gas to further characterize the movement as something completely unlimited to conventionality and untethered to visual congruency. The film is full of surreal imagery, as well as visual and verbal jokes, which Malle integrates into the new film language that was taking shape.

The film is based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Raymond Queneau and centers on a ten-year-old girl named Zazie visiting her uncle, Gabriel, in Paris. Zazie escapes her uncle's care to roam the city, getting into shenanigans. All the while, various characters and circumstances arise that cause mayhem, confusion, and more than anything else, comedy.

While I don't think the film is thematically very deep, I had an absolute blast watching it. The film, to me, simply occupies the free-spirit attitude of Zazie, allowing itself to be completely loose in its structure, visuals, continuity, etc. There is just a playfulness that comes with the film, unwanting to take itself seriously and unwanting to be anything more than a joyful time (which parallels Zazie's quest to have a joyful time in Paris). There is no rhyme or reason to anything, but a fully explorative spirit that titillates in its whimsy. 

To me, "Zazie dans le Metro" works as a live-action cartoon, full of zany imagery, slapstick comedy, and absurdist humor. It has the spirit of a child, and take advantage of the cinematic liberations of Nouvelle Vague and stretches them to their most absurd points. I don't think "Zazie" is Malle's best film, nor is it something worth philosophical discussion. However, I was head over heels with this film and cannot wait until the next opportunity to enjoy bathing in its absurd capriciousness. 



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