zazie Dans Le Metro

By Andrew Harp

From eclectic director Louis Malle, "Zazie dans le Métro" is a French new wave comedy that predates off-the-wall, gag-filled, Looney Tunes-like 80s films including "Gremlins 2" and Zucker Brothers works like "Airplane!"

Zazie, a young French girl visiting her uncle in Paris while her mother sees her boyfriend, witnesses the debauchery and madness that adults inflict on themselves in pursuit of destructive and short-term pleasures.

Malle utilizes every film trick and ability available to him including jump cuts, fourth wall breaks, the destruction of sets, artificial lighting and erratic music.

British filmmaker and actor said in 2011 for The Guardian that "Zazie dans le métro genuinely creates the world of a 12 year old girl, not the director. Malle’s directorial solutions fit the material perfectly, conjuring a simple and youthful deligtha at paris.”