Zero for Conduct

1933 ‘Zéro de conduite : Jeunes diables au collège’ Directed by Jean Vigo

In a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the director on a celebration day.

Jean Dasté Robert le Flon Du Verron Delphin Léon Larive Madame Émile Louis de Gonzague Raphaël Diligent Louis Lefebvre Gilbert Pruchon Constantin Goldstein-Kehler Gérard de Bédarieux

Alternative Titles

Zero de Condulta, 품행 제로

drama comedy

42 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Sean Baker 11

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

So happy I got to see this on the big screen. First 4K digital restoration was completed at the L’Image Retrouvée laboratories in Bologna and Paris. Supported by Gaumont and The Film Foundation.
This restoration, five minutes longer than previous versions, contains unseen extended sequences and eliminates intertitles used in more recent prints -- -- must be the same restoration used on the Criterion Blu-ray.
Very similar to Our Gang in so many ways except Vigo goes to full on rebellion. It just might be the first youth rebellion film.
Beautiful imagery -- the feathers and slo-mo during the climax is iconic.
My first visit to The Cinematheque in Vancouver. Great experience as the team gave me a brief tour around the facility - their archive, projection room and extensive film literature library.
Review by Edgar Cochran ★★★★★ 10

One year before his longstanding feature-film achievement L'Atalante (1934), Jean Vigo's enchanting anarchich short masterpiece has a huge heart placed in the middle of it all, despite the negativity in the depiction of the boarding school, the meanness of the school authorities and harsh conditions of the students.
Correct observations have been made pointing out the fact that the spirit of this film was an influence on Lindsay Anderson's If.... (1968), which is actually considered as a remake by several sources, including IMDB, as both circle around the intentions of the students to organize an uprising, and both have key scenes which visual techniques highlight the intensity of the moment (the pillow fight sequence was extraordinary). Still, this one has…
Review by jing ★★★½ 3

my second jean vigo film!
while this film touches on some interesting topics like anarchism (hence the 12-year ban following its premiere) and leaves plenty of room for interpretations, i personally wasn’t really able to connect with any parts of the story. even though the premise sounded intriguing, and 45 minutes didn’t seem like a long runtime, it took me quite some time to figure out what was going on and what to pay my attention to (or maybe i just wasn’t in the right mindset?). it’s obviously not the movie’s fault that my brain is basically one remaining brain cell, but i suppose part of why it was so difficult for me to follow the storyline was because of…
Review by Paul Elliott ★★★★ 2

Director Jean Vigo has been continuously idolised by the pioneers of the French New Wave movement despite only completing four features before his untimely death at the age of twenty-nine, and this third film is based primarily on his personal experiences in a boarding school. A particular reading of the film could draw parallels with the boarding school pupils serving as a metaphor for the encapsulation of a society being regulated heavily by conservative figures of authority who require toppling, and this caused enough concern for the French government of the day to ban the film for twelve years after its premiere.
It amplifies the division between how the pupils conduct themselves and how their encircling lecturers are instructing them…
Review by sweta 1

Honestly, for a 41 minute film, this was a bit of a chore to get through. Maybe it's because I watched it near midnight but I've watched many films at odd times of the night, so I'm not quite sure.
Actually, I think a lot of things were done well, or at least interestingly in the film. For one, the caricaturistic authority figures in Zero for Conduct. We have one seemingly omniscient house-master with a penchant for snooping through the boys belongings. A headmaster, who is probably shorter than Danny DeVito, and probably has a voice squeakier than a mouse. And a teacher, who fancies himself somewhat of a clown -- complete with Chaplin impersonations and spontaneous handstands.
Even the…
Review by Nolio ★★½

Another one of those historically important films that I just couldn't vibe with.
The slow-motion pillow fight is poetic. The idea of rebelling against the institution can be interesting. What I don't enjoy about a lot of these older important movies is simply how uninteresting they are now. Like, "kids rebel" sums up the entire movie, and that's all that happens as well. I didn't feel anything watching this.
Also, its just forgettable to me. These weren't characters, but rather caricatures, outlines for would-be characters if this were longer than 45 minutes. Though it is a shame it was never finished, because just as things got semi-interesting, the film ended.
I can't recommend it.
Review by Antonomasia ★★★½ 2

[made 1933]
If... and Dead Poet's Society were directly inspired by scenes from this film, and it also influenced The 400 Blows. Yet it's almost unknown among non-cinephiles. (I love two of those films and quite like DPS, and hadn't heard its name until today when I read an article about L'atalante mentioning that Jean Vigo's entire filmography could easily be watched in one afternoon.)
The school here is not as brutal or regimented as the institution in If... but I still find I can't write this review without making it a response to this one which says that the children's punishments seem quite justified.
Zéro de conduite is told from the children's point of view - though I think…
Review by Jacob ★★ 2

A story about 4 students at a school who rebel against strict teachers at a school.
With the interesting synopsis you’d think this would be a profound story but since it’s only 40 minutes and there’s hardly no character development nor any rememberable scenes this isn’t pretty forgettable.
Other than some camera work and a cool slo-motion scene with some tricky imagery I can’t remember a damn thing honestly...
Review by Irwan Nur Rizqi ★★★★ 2

My first sip of Jean Vigo's poetic realism was served in a small scale, pure in characters and heartwarming in execution. It also felt highly personal, like it was directly excerpted from Jean Vigo's retrospective memory about his first contact with anarchy through rebellious heartthrob. It is essential as it is influential that without this little gem, the great films such as The 400 Blows and Dead Poets Society might not even exist.
Using adult's point of view yet still keeping the youthful soul intact, this short masterpiece was played like a compassionate letter to children's vulnerability through showcases of playful and surrealistic acts of innocent anarchy fighting against repressive boarding school system. Joyous and full of energy. The way…
Review by theriverjordan ★★★★

Director Jean Vigo instilled the entire promise and essence of film into the 40-minute runtime of “Zero for Conduct.”
Born to a legendary anarchist father, Vigo took that revolutionary ardor to his art in “Zero.” A short tale about revolting grade school boys, Vigo used the simple plot as a parable about classism and youth oppression.
Of course, it was banned in France for over a decade on its original release.
Beyond its social (im)pertinence and nostalgia, Vigo also created some of his legendarily dreamlike images in “Zero.”
Much like the underwater scene in Vigo’s next work, “L’Atalante,” the slow motion pillow battle in “Zero” is a fleeting moment of illusory elation. It exists in cinema. It could exist only in cinema. We are still chasing after its spirit; 90 years later.
Review by shookone ★★½

erich mühsam meets demauses history of childhood... or something like that.
not a good sign I'm intellectualizing though, isn't it?
Review by James Betsalel ★★★★

Charming and light compared to the many works it would inspire Zero for Conduct is a short anarchistic view into a broken educational system with a purely joyous and beautifully captured climax. The cinematography is great often making use of some unconventional camera angles. At 44 minutes I can't think of a reason not to recommend this even to those who have an aversion to older films.
Absolutely recommend.

Recent reviews

Review by Raesonnas ★★

There are a lot of interesting ideas in Zero for Conduct and a few moments worth seeing, but not much else. It’s one of those movies that’s both too long and too short at the same time.
Many scenes seemed misplaced, or dragged on too long or were just plain unnecessary and at the same time many of the most interesting ideas, such as youthful rebellion against the powers that be, weren’t developed as much as I would have hoped. The monitors, teachers, and headmaster didn’t seem that awful. The one monitor who acts like Charlie Chaplin’s the kid even seems to engage them at their level and share their views. Not every movie needs to have distinct characters or…
Review by Jordan Vergel de Dios ★★

No greater birth control than watching French boys in coming-of-age movies. Without fail, they are always little devils.
Review by adlittlefield ★★★

You damn kids!
Review by crosby

loved the playful direction using sleight-of-hand editing tricks, tracking shots, slow motion, animation, etc. really felt ahead of its time.
Review by Narsh ★★★½

Outside of a few shots/sequences, it’s not as visually stimulating (or as well edited) as his other stuff, but it’s got the biggest heart and feels the most personal. The exuberant hijinks, the lone sympathetic teacher surrounded by the evil caricatures (one of whom was implied to be a pedophile I think?), the ultimate triumph of the children’s rebellion - its all very touching, even if you don’t know the reality of Vigo’s own background as a child of an executed anarchist. When you take that into consideration, the prevailing sense of idealism here is even more moving
Review by Fefemathu ★★★½

Un beau film honnête et moderne pour son époque. La scène de la procession des enfants est assez mémorable.
Review by erythsea ★★

Beans again?
Down with Ma Beans!
Review by noahkrommen ★★★½

Great slow mo!
Review by THOMASEMMET ★★★★

There’s such a rebellious streak to this movie, not just in the story of students taking over their school but in the obvious homoeroticism (full frontal nudity in the 30s), the way it’s shots are composed (an argument between a student and teacher has the camera literally swinging left and right between them) and it’s raucous ending.
Review by Nick H. ★★★

I'm of two minds.
(1) Enjoyable, inspirational to future generations of French film directors, but there's not a lot here and what is here could use fleshing out.
(2) To hell with the actual plot, Jean Dasté's Chaplin walk is sublime. It's like The Ministry of Silly Walks, 37 years early.
Review by jackseibert ★★★★½

the kids must've had a blast filming this. getting to lay waste to their repressive school seems so freudian as a concept, but there's nothing dreamlike here—it's not surrealism, but that kind of realism that captures something we can't conceive except for the camera, a kind of spectacle. i find that far more transgressive than a psychological study would be
the editing is kind of marvelous. it's always very happy to jump to a different angle/position for a second and then back, sort of thwarting any classification as either continuity or not
Review by GalvaVinicius ★★★★★

Isso é simplesmente uma das coisas mais maravilhosas que o cinema já criou. O movimento lúdico da juventude/infância, seu ímpeto audaz, seus impulsos incontroláveis, sua alegria espontânea, seus gestos inesperados, ganham uma poesia própria e especial, como só o cinema é capaz de captar. A revolta das crianças contra os adultos, a autoridade, é a prevalência do sonho e fantasia contidas na realidade sobre a banalidade do cotidiano, é o triunfo do cinema.