Customer Reviews

Zazie Dans Le Metro [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This movie has a spirit of it's own and takes you on a roller-coaster ride of the visual - not only from the inventive camera trickery, but also through the breathtaking photography of Paris in the summer. It's the equivalent of a good French meal - lots of colour and taste, with a few suprises mixed in and a little difficult to comprehend.
Zazie, the precocious urchin of the movie steals the show. Her zany antics and profanities keep the pace of the movie going. 44 years on, I wonder what happened to Catherine Demongeot who played the part?
This movie is Eurpoean cinema at its best, and a magical celebration at that - full or double-entendre and presented in a way that says " I don't care if the critics and focus groups don't like it - I'm just going to to what the hell I want, create havock, and have fun doing it!!"

This movie is absolutely fantastic. Louis Malle's early work was influenced by surrealism and absurdity. "Zazie" plays like a cartoon. An apprecation for French film is necessary, however, and an affinity and basic understanding of the language, as well.

Films like this are not made any more. It has the mood of a time forgotten. Mod styles abound, it is a romp through Paris led by a hyperactive little girl and a host of wacky characters she encounters along the way: the nonchalant cab driver, the villain who accosts her, the ultra hip aunt, etc. The humor is playful and innocent for the most part, yet still manages to be side-splitting because of the unexpectedness. It is clever and inventive and truly a forgotten gem.

Be aware that Hollywood has no hold what so ever on this film. It was crafted with utmost care and was really quite a special effects masterpiece for its time. I surely hope it is re-released soon!

An absolute delight, this is one of the wittiest, zaniest movies I've seen in a long lifetime. It can be enjoyed equally well by adults and children, and it keeps you laughing through cleverness and elegance, not through crudities or childish humor. Yes, to view it you'll need (unless you're in Region 4) an all-region DVD player; but even in the USA these can easily be obtained and, without one, you're missing a lot of good movies that are aimed at non-North American markets.

Louis Malle's visual sense of humor is wonderful in Zazie, and he seems to have brought off a stylistic translation of Queneau's linguistic sophistication into the visual - since it clearly couldn't be done reasonably in dialogue. I loved the cartoon-parodies (talking Bugs and Wile E. here) and the silliness all-around, with visual and kinetic wit. I've only looked over the beginning of the book in English translation (also impossible); rather different from the film, but vive le difference! (BTW scant traces of C. Demongeot on the Internet except for two minor roles including a Zazie cameo. Mylène is too young to be her mother.)

The 1960 French film "Zazie dans le metro" was produced and directed by the famous French director Louis Malle (1932-1995). Based upon a novel written by Raymond Queneau (1903-1976), the film is about a young girl named Zazie (Catherine Demongeot) who is sent to Paris by her mother (Odette Piquet) to stay with her Uncle Gabriel (Philippe Noiret, 1930-2006). He performs in a night club in drag and lives with the pasty-faced & often-emotionless Albertine (Carla Marlier) above a café. Escaping her uncle, Zazie sets off on an unusual romp through Paris on her own. Unable to ride on the Metro (the Parisian subway) due to a workers' strike, she walks to an open air market where she is treated to a free meal and shoplifts some clothing. She is subsequently chased in an effort to retrieve the clothing, but escapes. After reuniting with Uncle Gabriel, Zazie, her uncle and a large group have dinner at a café following a night club performance with the dinner turning into a wild food fight.

Overall, "Zazie dans le metro" is a funny and entertaining film. It's only real problem are the lengthy chase scenes that could have been half as long. Overall, I rate "Zazie dans le metro" with 4 out of 5 stars.

I do not believe in children ingenuity . They do not know it . This bitter but sensate affirmation belongs to Gustav Mahler .
And so this film, with the astonishing imagination of Louis Malle -a promising and famed director by then with previous notable works such Elevator to the gallows and The lovers- literally dives in an unknown ocean : adult's world satire (but without the bitterness of the 400 blows this giant film of Francois Truffaut filmed just two years before) through the eyes of a child with the New Wave condiment .
The result was a joyous film . An exceedingly funny picture , delicate, outrageous , vulgar nightmarish way. From start to finish a winner film .
And please realize and make an imaginative journey : this film clearly precedes to Amelie in its giocoso and joy of living spirit . Do not you ?

Total flop. Malle has ruined one of the funniest books ever written. Trust me, young friends: read the book instead of trying to watch this botchery. One of the worst Louis Malle films ever -what was he thinking? How can one ruin a book with such hilarious burlesque sujet, characters, dialogue (reads like a film script) and, best, that distilled essence of the 50's Paris...

I saw this movie and hated it, however, I saw an exceedingly deteriorated film print, with sound you could barely hear and subtitles out of focus, in an auditorium with acoustics like a parking garage. Someone tell me what's good about this film, and I'll rent it and try again.