Zazie in the Metro
1960 ‘Zazie dans le métro’ Directed by Philippe Collin, Olivier Gérard …
Synopsis
Zazie in the Metro — or simply Zazie, depending on the translation (original French title: Zazie dans le métro) — a French novel written in 1959, was the first major success of author Raymond Queneau. Zazie explores colloquial language as opposed to 'standard' written French, a distinction that is particularly marked in French, where correct language usage is governed by an official academy. The first word of the book, the neologism Doukipudonktan is a phonetic transcription of D'où qu'il pue donc tant ? ("How come he stinks so much?"). In the English version of the novel, this is rendered as "Holifart watastink". In the movie version the English subtitle reads "Whozit who stinks?"
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Popular reviews
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Tex Avery by way of the French New Wave. A live-action cartoon, achieved using every camera and editing trick Malle could throw out. A horror film about the absurdity of adult life. And isn't that little Zazie just darlin'?
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I never expected that the director of melancholy masterpiece Le Feu Follet would also be responsible for some of the funniest comedy chase and fight sequences I've seen since Jackie Chan. Louis Malle was a versatile kinda guy.
Cheeky Zazie - like Amelie's evil, foul-mouthed kid sister - is staying with her uncle and aunt in Paris for a few days, but manages to lead half the city on a merry dance and several Benny Hill-style pursuits. She never gets to go on the Metro, as she's been dreaming of - it's on strike, so she has to find other ways to amuse herself. Ultimately, not an awful lot actually happens except people running about and shouting, the odd bit…
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If you ever wondered how a film with the spirit of Looney Tunes as humans filtered through the eyes of the French New Wave, look no further than Zazie dans le Métro. Right from the beginning it is an over powering experience throwing all sorts of sight gags and word play at you in addition to a mountain of surreal images. The film is absolutely saturated with Zazie's madcap energy which Louis Malle brings to life with a big bag of cinematic techniques such as wild jump cuts, fast motion chase sequences, vertigo-inducing camera angles and rapid fire editing. The Eiffel Tower scenes themselves are a master class at using camera angles and scale to create something that is larger…
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Week 2 of the Criterion a Week Project: Spine #570
What a blast. Zazie dans le Metro is like a live action Looney Tunes cartoon, zipping along at a manic pace without care for logic or cohesion. It's one of the most delightfully silly films I've ever seen in my life. Deceptively simple and wonderfully imaginative. I don't think 30 seconds ever passed without me bursting out into a fit of giggles. I'm so damn happy I saw this.
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Cinematic/Surrealist gags, brawls, Paris in the 1960s...what's not to love
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Slightly amusing at times, but this is not really my type of humor.
Recent reviews
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Hate this more than words can say. If it were possible to give a minus rating, I would
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Tex Avery by way of the French New Wave. A live-action cartoon, achieved using every camera and editing trick Malle could throw out. A horror film about the absurdity of adult life. And isn't that little Zazie just darlin'?
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Surreal, brilliant film - ostensibly about a young girl and her uncle - but so much more - and not really anything in particular. I'm not usually a huge Louis Malle fan but this really blew my mind.
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Schooled by Keaton, Chaplin and Tex Avery, and school for Ricard Lester, Monty Python, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Wes Anderson, Malle presents a slapstick fairytale of working class Paris 1960. Marvelous nods to Métro architecture, les toits de Paris, its arcades, quays and flea markets, and better than Hitchcock or Méliès, the Eiffel Tower, with street "sets" designed by William Klein. Fancy a little Grenadine? À la soupe a l'oignon!
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Week 2 of the Criterion a Week Project: Spine #570
What a blast. Zazie dans le Metro is like a live action Looney Tunes cartoon, zipping along at a manic pace without care for logic or cohesion. It's one of the most delightfully silly films I've ever seen in my life. Deceptively simple and wonderfully imaginative. I don't think 30 seconds ever passed without me bursting out into a fit of giggles. I'm so damn happy I saw this.
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Cinematic/Surrealist gags, brawls, Paris in the 1960s...what's not to love
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Fine entertainment. Well made version of the novel.
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Zazie Dans Le Metro is Louis Malle's satire on French society. The film's style is wacky and reminiscent of Keystone Cops at times. The characters are purposely exaggerated to mock the kinds of people who compose French society.
The story centers around 12-year-old Zazie who stays 2 days in Paris with her uncle, while her mother has a romance. Zazie is precocious, foul-mouthed, and more worldly than all the adults around her.
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Really thrilling early Malle film with a great use of colour, editing, Paris, etc. It's clear that the youthful energy and the thrill of experimentation that define the French New Wave were alive and well on the set of Zazie. It tumbles into lunacy by the end but for just about everything prior the film is greatly compelling - you never know what could happen next as classical time and space simply become elastic bands for Malle and Co. to fling around.