Zero for Conduct (1933) User Reviews

this not quite short film another of Jean Vigo's precious works, but it goes without saying...

[Quinoa1984 · 8/10 · 10 March 2007]

...that in Jean Vigo's all-too short-lived career as a filmmaker he didn't make one unsuccessful movie, despite his difficulties. But seeing Zero For Conduct, which was no doubt a big influence (if only in the details of some scenes) for Truffaut's 400 Blows, I do feel a little sorry for it in a way. Watching it, I kept thinking 'is this Vigo's director's cut, or did they make him cut stuff out'? Because within the 41 minute time frame- which comes in over one minute of being a short film- things happen, but they almost happen too fast. Holes are sort of left in the plot, and only occasionally do they becomes a little bothersome (I wanted to see what happened, for example, when the kid told the short principal "go to hell" as it cuts right from that to the kids gearing up for their uprising for the next day). If this were the length of L'Atalante, it might even be just as great as that. It's flaws, if any, are probably also due to budget. It also doesn't help that the print was so scratched, and the subtitles so spotty, that some of the time I wasn't sure what's going on or if a cutaway was right.

This all aside, however, Zero For Conduct is a wonderful little song to the spirit of youth, and what it is to be at that age and see authority, practically any authority, as a form of fascism. In fact Vigo makes a point of making the title, Zero For Conduct, part of the repetitive punishment for the students that disobey just in the slightest. It a given until after a while it loses its meaning. We're given a small band of joyful miscreants, Caussat, Colin, Bruel, Tabbard, as they plot to stage a rebellion on the day of the alumni event at the private boys school they attend. Even though one of the professors is actually on the same level of rebellious spirit as them- and at one point does a handstand like one of the other kids and draws a cartoon to prove it- most of the teachers, and the principal with the Napoleon-complex played by the funny Delphin, kill their spirits completely. Vigo's world is almost too much fun though for their rebellion to be too violent or with too many tragedies and so forth, and the anarchy is that kind of childish chaos where it almost comes close to a pillow fight (in maybe my favorite sequence of the film, where the boys do a sort of test-run for their rebellion, laying to waste their sleeping quarters, caught in delirious, masterful slow-motion and sweet music by Maurice Jaubert).

If you can find it, and you're already a fan of L'Atalante, you should be in for a very pleasant, early-sound era surprise from Vigo and his great DP Boris Kaufman, with much of it featuring the perfectly goofy experiments with the form that were done in A Propos De Nice, but here with something more of a story. With the quality spotty and all- one of the films most in need of a restoration in fact- Vigo's style never seems too compromised at least, and the sense of pure, cinematic exuberance with what makes life grand and not so grand is up for grabs in a real short shot. We get the little notes of humor, however slight (like the boy doing a little trick with his fingers on the train), and the moments of the dark side (a moment when the principal, with a student at his desk, does some kind of creepy demon pose), and it ends with a cool French school song too. Like Bunuel's Simon of the Desert, I'm not sure if Vigo's film got a bum rap or if he had planned to make it even bigger and with more depth into who these kids are and what the school is like. But like that film as well, what remains contains splendors that can only come from unique minds in film-making. A-

Surrealistic and Anarchist Satire

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 19 September 2010]

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

"Zéro de Conduite: Jeunes Diables au College" is based on the real life experience of Jean Vigo, who was the son of an anarchist militant that died in jail and was abandoned by his mother at the age of twelve, passing from boarding school to boarding school along his childhood. He died with only twenty-nine years old one year after the release of this film in France on 07 April 1933, but it has been censored by the French authorities until 15 February 1946.

Every decade, the cinema industry releases at least one movie about the relationship between students and teachers that reflects the behavior of the society. The surrealistic and anarchist satire "Zéro de Conduite: Jeunes Diables au College" shows a repressive school and is probably the predecessor to explore this theme in 1933. Therefore it is influential and important to see it at least once. François Truffaut's "The 400 Blows" (1959); James Clavell's "To Sir with Love" (1967); John N. Smith's Dangerous Minds (1995); Laurent Cantet's "Entre les Murs" (2008) among others, are more recent movies that discloses the increasing violence and lack of respect for the authorities in school and consequently in the society itself. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Zero de Conduite"

Disjointed but fascinating

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 17 August 2007]

Vigo's first (and penultimate) fiction feature is a precocious but messy work that serves notice of the huge talent he possesses while clearly showing that he is still a man learning his trade. The story as such tells of a revolt by schoolboys against their strict masters, but it wanders all over the place and appears either to have suffered at the hands of some inept editor's scissors, or to contain an abundance of nascent ideas that Vigo has chosen – or been forced – to put to screen before they were fully formed. It all makes for a fragmented and episodic structure that nevertheless somehow seems to add to the charm of the piece. Interspersed between these disjointed plot developments are some eerily surreal moments, such as when the midget headmaster straightens his tie in the mirror and his reflection moves away a second or two after him, which ensure that this film, while not the finished article, is never less than fascinating.

New Wave beginnings

[chaos-rampant · 22 February 2016]

Let's say what this doesn't have; riveting drama, well rounded characters, plush visuals, none of that is at stake here even as consideration. Which is for the better, if you're like me, and you want to see what life can be when freed from confines of story.

It's not even a film that directly fulfills me so much as how it paves a path for things to be done a certain way. See, many films from the era anticipate later movements, it was a fertile time. But none other so fully prophesies French New Wave in particular as this one here.

Look at the tropes and tell me.

The whole film is a series of improvised playing around against the rigid limits imposed by a story - given to us as kids fretting with the (storytelling) routine of a boarding school and its teachers. What little story there is, is for the kids to run around and play- act.

Teachers are shown as suitably buffoonish. The only one who is on their side, who shares in their playing, at one point does a Chaplin impersonation to amuse them. It's the same self-referential appraisal of movies as ideals that we find twenty years later in Godard.

And eventually it's about rebellion. The kids conspire to stage a revolt that takes over the whole school, this on the same day as an important public ceremony is supposed to take place on the grounds. The ceremony is turned into a circus, smashed up. The kids walk triumphant on the roof of the school, heroes of the revolution. French students would rejoice to see this in '68. The film was banned at the time as morally dangerous.

You can see how Vigo was born to anarchist parents, how he was a poet by inclination who wanted the spontaneous burst that turns life upside down and climbs up to where a view is possible. He was cut tragically short while on his way to becoming a Fellini, the story goes.

Zero for Conduct

[jboothmillard · 7/10 · 5 March 2009]

I only heard of this black and white French film because it appears in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, so I decided to try it. The film reflects on director Jean Vigo's boarding school experiences and his anarchist view on childhood. The film is basically showing all the children rebelling against the teachers, and the leaders of this revolt are Caussat (Louis Lefebvre) and Bruel (Coco Golstein). Starring Jean Dasté as Superintendent Huguet, Robert Le Flon as Superintendent Pète-Sec, Du Verron as Superintendent-Général Bec-De-Gaz, Delphin as Principal, Pierre Blanchar as Superintendent General, Léon Larive as Chemistry Professor, Madame Émile as Madame Colin and Louis De Gonzague-Frick as Le Préfet. This satire is only forty minutes long, and when it was released it was banned for causing anger and hostility, probably for the idea of kids at school going out of control, only thing I can see wrong was a kid saying a swear word, it is a worthwhile classic comedy drama. Very good!

a basic for cinema lovers

[diegoarditi · 10/10 · 2 October 2006]

Vigo's first fiction film is one of my favorites classics of all. From the presentation of the characters you can realize that the movie is something special; the kids are just great: they are intelligent, funny and over all, rebel , but with no loss of their candid side. The adults receive a grotesque layer of paint to put the olive to the acid-social humor cocktail. The technical department may be a little under the possibilities of its time, but still Vigo's crew make it by the smart use of simple resources like the dramatical application of animated items or simple edition tricks. The rest must be seen, not told… so get the DVD, forget those fancy details like surround sound (or clear sound) colors or complicated effects and relax for 45 minutes of a simple but rich classic.

Such a rarity...

[rainking_es · 6/10 · 16 March 2007]

Such a little curiosity of French cinema, a movie that was very advanced for his time and very irreverent.

Revolting kids that began a revolution against their teachers in a boarding school. It's kind of a surrealistic allegory of the fight against the establishment and the authorities.

It's pretty advisable for those that are interested in the history of cinema and in Vigo's career...

*My rate: 6/10

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The master before Truffaut

[Camoo · 10/10 · 9 April 2007]

Jean Vigo led a famously short life, he lived only until his thirties, and made four films, each of which were great, two of which were perfect. The first was l'Atalante, the second was 'Zero for Conduct', which was based on his experiences growing up an orphan living in several boarding schools, constantly battling lifelong ailments which would eventually go on to kill him. The poignancy of a life like his comes from the fact that some people spend their whole careers trying to make just one film that comes close to what he did effortlessly in his twenties, and no doubt had he lived longer he would have gained the recognition and popularity awarded to filmmakers like Truffaut and Godard, two directors who perhaps owe their careers to Vigo, particularly Truffaut, who's 400 Blows took much inspiration and material from this film. It is clear the artistic impact Vigo had, he was a master who experimented with sound and music loops well before it became fashion to do so, as well as camera speeds such as during the wonderful pillow fight sequence which is slowed down so we can see a hurricane of feathers gently floating around the frame. I will never forget this image. Zero for Conduct was particularly short, not long enough to be considered a feature, but not short enough to be considered a short film, but in my opinion too short. I would have gladly watched another hour of this beautiful and strange film...

Puzzling

[Manicheus · 6/10 · 21 January 2003]

The reality of it is that it's incoherent, at times utterly so. Maybe it was not intended to be left at 41 minutes, maybe it wasn't edited at all. For me it's the typical example of an "art" film that snowballs by the laws of dishonest snobbish emulation into "greatest" cinematic works blah . The fact is that there are no follow ups, the scenes end in a succession of non sequiturs etc. In itself that does not warrant exclusion of this film against dozens and hundreds of little known, lost or ignored dadaist and surrealist (short) films of ca 1915 until around the date of the "Zero". This is definitely a cryptic film and if one has enough patience and time maybe succesion of viewings could offer some further proof of its cinematic merit. Of course the SPOILER pillow fighting scene is a brilliant classic, but it has been done before! Vigo must have seen that scene in the famous 1927. masterpiece from guess who? To corroborate that Vigo's short opus is more a bit of artsy snobbery and less of the alleged greatness (which I would gladly concede if proven so!) I am not unfamiliar with his other equally chaotic and incomplete works. Still, the 30's were so much more creative than almost anything filmed today.

a too short delight

[jean-no · 10/10 · 28 March 2002]

known as a major inspiration for François Truffaut, Jean Vigo's "Zero de conduite" is a little cinema jewel about children. I'm not sure to be able to describe it much better than telling it is a child and messy view (recalls ?) on childhood. Some scenes are unforgettable. Jean Vigo's cinema suffered a lot : "l'atalante", one of the most "natural" movies ever, was re-mounted by the studio Gaumont into a not very interesting love story (now the movie is in public domain, Gaumont remounted it close to the "director's cut"). "Zéro de conduite" was banned by the censors... And the author died very young, so we don't have much of his genius to watch, everything from him is worth seeing.

Zero for Conduct, Ten for Greatness!

[meejoir · 9/10 · 13 November 2002]

I saw this film on a double bill tonight with Jean Vigo's L'Atalante. I love French movies but until now I had seen nothing from this long ago.

It seems to be one hilarious set piece after another, I say hilarious and I really mean that. The children are wonderful but the teachers are all there to be made fun of in any manner of ways. I must say the Head master is brilliant.

Whilst this is only about 40 minutes or so long, it is a fine introduction to the Jean Vigo's full length feature film, L'Atalante.

If you love cinema, you will love Zero for Conduct.

Jean Vigo's own anarchist childhood episode adopted as a rebellious children oriented French flick.

[SAMTHEBESTEST · 7/10 · 18 September 2021]

Zéro de conduite / Zero For Conduct (1933) : Brief Review -

Jean Vigo's own anarchist childhood episode adopted as a rebellious children oriented French flick. François Truffaut paid homage to Zero for Conduct in his film The 400 Blows (1959) which is a higher rated film than this french short but for me both the films hold the same rank. I neither over praised 400 Blows because i didn't really find it that amazing nor i am going to sing exaggerated praises for this one. There are reasons for it and that doesn't mean i hate these film or I'm calling them bad. Both are very good products, something really offbeat and powerful but within limits. It is not like that these two film are greatest of all time or so as said by some critics and movie fans. Well, it's Strictly my personal opinion and naturally others are free to have their own. So, The film draws extensively on Vigo's boarding school experiences to depict a repressive, abusive and bureaucratised educational establishment in which surreal acts of rebellion occur, reflecting Vigo's anarchist view of childhood. Now just because it is a short, it is saved otherwise it would have been called a slow film. The 49 minutes version I saw on YouTube (with English Subtitles) is fairly engaging for the first time viewing. First 10 minutes might sound slow but later it gets pacy, especially in the last 15 minutes with all that rebellion stuff. Somehow it takes time to come to the point but the moment which turns a silence into a storm is definitely worthy. When that teacher touches the hand of a student and then humiliating situation is thrown out with those famous abusing words FU.. That's where this film becomes special. Ahead of time and extremely rebellious, which, i guess wasn't done by any film till 1933. So, overall it's a must see for the daring projection but nothing like Greatest kind.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

40 minutes of boys' pranks

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 26 June 2015]

I have to say I am a bit surprised that this film is so famous, not only in France, but actually one of the more known short films everywhere around the world. A lot of it may have to do with writer and director Jean Vigo's untimely death at 29, one year after this was released. He only made 4 films in his career, 3 of them shorts and all of them are very well-received. I cannot talk about the other ones, although I will probably watch the two short documentaries at some point, but looking at this one here I was not particularly impressed. It's a 40-minute short movie and basically includes boys at a school constantly staging pranks for their teachers while occasionally also interacting with each other. It is black-and-white, which was still the way to go in 1933, by the way the year when Nazis came into power in Germany over 80 years ago, just to put it in perspective. So long before the likes of Pippi Longstocking, there were actually these French boys. But you don't really need to see it. Nothing memorable here. Only reason I can think of is that this may seem interesting to evaluate why it was banned for such a long time. But other than that, not recommended.

A flawed though no less worthy experience

[ThreeSadTigers · 25 May 2008]

This is an odd film, one that will certainly test the patience of many potential viewers given the sad fact that it is technically an unfinished work; standing at only 41 minutes in length and abruptly ending at the point when it was becoming most interesting. However, even in this currently truncated form there is no denying that director Jean Vigo was an incredibly talented young man; as this short sketch of a film and his lone masterpiece L'Atalante (1934) will attest. What impresses most about Zéro de conduit (1933) - which shouldn't work, but somehow does - is the juxtaposition and appropriation of a number of textural and thematic reference points that move from elements of bold farce and satirical comment, to the further elements of silent humour, surrealist symbolism and neo-realist observation. It's all tied together by the strong use of characterisation, the likable performances from these young and natural actors and the still somewhat exciting way in which the various references have all been woven seamlessly together.

Really though, it's simply a great little romp; with the free-spirited kids sowing the seeds of rebellion against the strict regime of tradition and conformity forced upon them by the teachers of a long-established French boarding school in such a way as to make for great satirical farce. In this respect, you can see it as an obvious influence on Lindsay Anderson's subversive masterpiece If... (1968) and indeed, certain elements of François Truffaut's classic, The 400 Blows (1959), with the school-based setting and the ideas of youthful rebellion being fairly iconic in the post 60's sense, and no doubt standing as fairly radical issues to be dramatised in the year 1934 (no wonder the film was banned by the censors until after the close of World War II). Regardless, the film is charming in a way that many films of this period often are, with the smart-alecky kids running rings around the stuffy lecturers in a no doubt fairly pointed metaphor for French cinema of this particular era (and of Vigo's potential to be something of a precursor to Jean-Luc Godard in terms of shaking up the establishment) before a last minute U-turn into more abstract territory with that iconic pillow-fight - and its dreamlike use of slow motion and accidental nudity - turns the whole thing on its head.

It's a real shame that the film isn't longer; giving us more room to get to know the characters and allowing the switch in tone to propel the drama into a more satisfying climax. As it stands, it is still a great piece of film-making, though one that will obviously be a somewhat infuriating experience for some. The experiments hinted at in the pillow fight sequences would seem to take a direct influence from Vigo's documentary film Taris, roi de l'eau (1931), while the more social-realist moments draw on his short-form travelogue À propos de Nice (1930), with all of these particular techniques and the influence found in Zéro de conduit itself later being blended into the brilliant L'Atalante. Unfortunately Vigo would subsequently die at the age of 29, denying the world of further films that may have contextualised Zéro de conduit beyond that of a short-form sketch. Still, as it stands today, over 70 years on, Vigo's film has lost none of its ability to charm, delight and confound the expectations of viewers; showing the hints of what a true talent he was and could have been, as well as offering a fairly worthy experience in its own right.

0 for conduct

[mossgrymk · 6/10 · 16 October 2022]

Marked down for excessive brevity (pardon the pun and the oxymoron). I mean, come on Vigo. If you're going to make a film about the horrors of the French educational system then make a FILM, for cryin out loud, and not this forty five minute surrealistic tone poem or whatever the hell it is! Just around the time you're starting to empathize with the kids and root for them to exterminate the pedagogical brutes who rule over them the movie's done, with a last shot of the students free at last on the rooftops under an open sky (one of the many indelible images provided by cinematographer Boris Kaufman and the sole reason this work gets a 6 instead of a 5 or worse). C plus.

PS...If you wish a more satisfying cinematic treatment of this same theme you will have to cross the channel and check out Lindsay Anderson's "If".

Zero for Conduct

[MartinTeller · 8/10 · 30 December 2011]

In the spirit of anti-authoritarian revolution, a playful rallying cry for rebellion and non-conformity. I still find the film a bit sloppy, but perhaps sloppy is suitable for this material. Vigo has a lot of fun with form, making the structure as anarchic as the content, including surreal sequences that embody the heroes with magical properties. Again, we have some masterful visual work, reaching a crescendo in the magnificent trashing of the dormitory scene. The movie is very witty and subversive, although I do have to admit that I'm not likely to watch it a third time as it's a work I respect more than I enjoy.

Zero for Conduct - 8/10

Influential

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 16 May 2016]

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

"Zéro de conduite" was approvingly described by critic David Thomson as "forty-four minutes of sustained, if roughly shot anarchic crescendo." This was not the widespread opinion at first, however, and "Zéro de conduite" was actually banned by the French government until after the second world war.

Though the film was not immediately popular, it has proved to be enduringly influential. François Truffaut paid homage to "Zero for Conduct" in his 1959 film "The 400 Blows", widely considered one of the greatest films of all time. And then there is the influence on "If...", which should be better-known.

Sept pour l'effort

[Spondonman · 7/10 · 12 August 2005]

Zero's main poignancy for me is in the wondering what would Vigo have gone on to do in the years after this and L'Atalante, which was a truly great film - an accidental classic. To me Zero is definitely not in that bracket but shows all the hallmarks of a director learning his trade, with youthful, exuberant inventiveness and an ingenuous glee in borrowing bits from other films. Ordinary reality and bizarre surreality go neat into this soup. Almost in the same manner as the Beatles' Mr. Kite 34 years later: Let's use up some bits of film by doing a lot of oddball plot-less things, throw it all together and see what we end up with. Vigo lived to see the results of his efforts with this, unlike L'Atalante.

At 40 minutes with many silent stretches or after-dubs, and a gramophone record for background music it has been the template for the kind of stuff generations of proto-Arty University students have poured out over the decades since. However, it was still deemed worthy enough for a suitably Arty and ... blown-up remake in 1968 as If - which has also always been applauded to the skies as Art by people with little discipline and a wish for less.

I always thought the snatch of snatch was as with almost everything with Vigo, accidental, accidentally he created (like L'Atalante) a film which is still puzzled over and applauded all these years later by marginal Artheads and ignored or dismissed by 99% of the world's discerning population. Basically it's an unlovely film that can only be completely liked by the pretentious and completely disliked by the impatient, but because Zero has its few entertaining moments I occasionally like to sample (believe it or not) I'm on the fence.

Strangely enjoyable.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 8/10 · 3 September 2008]

Yes, this movie is surrealistic alright. Perhaps not as much as for instance a Luis Buñuel movie but it features lots of symbolism and metaphors. You have to like these sort of movies obviously to fully appreciate and enjoy it.

It's of course also a protest to the very strong regime on boarding schools, which makes this movie a social commentary, like often surrealistic-like movies are. It caused Jean Vigo's movies not to be appreciated until after WW II, since prior to that his movies mostly got banned everywhere.

French always had a thing with revolutions, which also plays a central theme within this movie. The movie might feel and look a bit disjointed at times but its always connected through its central themes.

As odd as this movie might seem like at times, it always knows to remain an enjoyable one, with also some good comedy in it at times, as well as some great looking and directed sequences.

An enjoyable little short surrealistic picture from Jean Vigo.

8/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Source of inspiration for some excellent films

[frankde-jong · 6/10 · 20 November 2023]

"Zero de conduite" is about a rebellion in a boarding school for boys.

In the limited oeuvre of Jean Vigo it is somewhat of a disappointment in between "A propos de Nice" (1930) and "L'Atalante" (1934).

The film looks like the adaptation of a novel about scoundrels. It looks very much like a '50s movie and has not aged well. You can say that if it looks like a '50s movie it was ahead of its time at the time of release, but that's a bit too optimistic for me. Besides it is an argument that is of no value for those watching the movie today.

"Zero de conduite" inspired Francois Truffaut to make "The 400 blows" (1959) and Lindsay Anderson to make "If" (1966). Seen in this way it has made a contribution to film fistory after all.

There is one scene that caught especially my attention. During an open house of the school (by the way the strangest open house I have ever seen) the row of chairs behind the management of the school is evidently occupied by dolls. Was this done on purpose or out of budgetary constraints, that's the question.

Zero for Conduct is a pretty good film

[zetes · 8/10 · 13 September 2000]

Zero for Conduct is a pretty good film about children. So often in movies children act exactly as the director commands them to, so they always seem like they are just speaking lines without knowing why they are doing so. In a film like Zero for Conduct or, even better, Truffaut's The 400 Blows, the child actors are allowed to be children. The children in this film are very true to life, and thus there is great value in this film. Another merit this film has is a teacher who does Charlie Chaplin impressions, and is for this reason more popular with the students. The film does have a lot of problems, though, most of which are not the fault of Vigo, the director. I understand that the production was rushed and incomplete when the shooting was wrapped up. As a result of this, the editing is sloppy. The film is sort of difficult to follow. Plus, possibly its biggest flaw, it ends very abruptly. There is no resolution.

Fight the power.

[st-shot · 7/10 · 10 November 2023]

Jean Vigo's whimsical school days gone bonkers, short film, Zero for Conduct seems harmless in this day and age but was soon censored by the government after its release in 1933. A free form light hearted comedy, officials failed to see the humor as it mocked the French system in general while inferring certain topics on verboten subjects.

Set at a boarding school it opens with two students on a train making fast friends by way of silly antics. Once at the station they are confronted by stern, sober teachers with the exception of an energetic new hire that makes him suspect. Browbeaten by inept teachers the kids plan to revolt on open house day.

Vigo instills Zero with moments of poetic gracefulness such as pillow fight in slow motion as well as make his point about the stale school system with its insipid educators and pompous officials. Vigo also adds some other deft touches that separate it from standard narrative films with dabs of surrealism and a nod to Charlie Chaplin and silent film.

Overall the film's free style presentation is invigorating but also ragged and diffuse in moments as Vigo makes his points in this brief film that clearly influenced, Truffaut's 400 Blows and Lindsay Anderson's "If..." A provocative and incendiary work from a true poet (L'Atalante) in a career cut short.

A dreadful viewing experience

[InjunNose · 1/10 · 19 March 2014]

Jean Vigo's "Zero for Conduct" embodies all the worst connotations of the term 'art film': it's dull, pretentious and incomprehensible. Worst of all, the claims that critics make for the film are untrue. Far from being 'the purest picture in the history of cinema of what authority appears to be to young minds' (Mick Martin & Marsha Porter, 'Video Movie Guide'), "Zero for Conduct" comes off as an effete adult's self-consciously artsy statement about youth versus the powers that be...and it's a long, distorted lens indeed that Vigo was looking down. Explosions, fast cars and nude starlets aren't necessarily my idea of a good time, but neither is this. (If you're in the mood for art cinema, might I suggest Maya Deren's "Meshes of the Afternoon" instead?)

The Kids Win One

[dougdoepke · 26 September 2013]

One thing for sure, the film's appropriate for the son of an anarchist, like Vigo. The school's not much better than a prison, and when the kids get into the mess hall (oops! I mean dining room) and start throwing the tiresome beans around, I thought Cagney in White Heat (1949). But then they're being trained for dull conformity into the machinery of French society. But these kids aren't going to give up their joyful high spirits without a struggle—just watch them bounce down the street. They may troop along two-by-two, but underneath there's a lively heartbeat that won't stand for deadening hierarchy as the ending shows.

Okay, the movie's disjointed, so no smooth narrative here, perhaps the result of a myopic editor. Still, the 40-minutes is full of imagination and amusing effects, while the theme shines through in unmistakable fashion. In fact, I particularly liked the general absence of dialog. That way, I didn't get a sore neck bouncing from captions to visuals. All in all, I wish Vigo's little classic had been shown at my military school—we could have used the inspiration.