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'?

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.

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!

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.

Cinematic/Surrealist gags, brawls, Paris in the 1960s...what's not to love

Fine entertainment. Well made version of the novel.

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.

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.

Slightly amusing at times, but this is not really my type of humor.

Such a fun film! The comedy of Chaplin and the whimsical charm of Amelie. I just love French New Wave films but I need to watch more. :)

I can appreciate the anarchic spirit and the madcap energy of this, and Zazie herself is great, like a French Pippi Longstocking. But I will never understand French comedy, especially not the sincere belief that anything can be funny if you just play it in fast motion.

My blogged about ZAZIE DANS LE METRO:

http://tederick.tumblr.com/post/37111192341/the-watchedathon-week-3-zazie-dans-le-metro-a-night