ZERO FOR CONDUCT Movie Review

Zero de Conduit

Jean Vigo was 27 when he directed this magnificently poetic, lyrical portrait of youthful rebellion at a restrictive French boarding school. The children have just returned to school from a holiday, and are in no mood to take orders from “Sourpuss,” the most obnoxious of their instructors. From a spirited, dormitory pillow fight (a hauntingly beautiful slow-motion sequence), a full-scale rebellion erupts—a teacher is tied to his bed, the Jolly Roger is flown on the school roof, and a group of visiting dignitaries are bombarded with junk and forced to retreat from the victorious, triumphant children. Zero for Conduct caused an immediate scandal when previewed in 1933, and was, in fact, banned from distribution until 1945, 11 years after the death of its brilliant director. Just 47 minutes long, Zero for Conduct is a perfectly shaped work, filled with bold, experimental storytelling techniques and as revolutionary in spirit as its young protagonists. Vigo considered the picture autobiographical, and in light of that, his stylized lampooning of the adults in the film seems less an expressionistic stunt than emotional cinema-verité. It remains the perfect expression of a child's natural reluctance to surrender to authority, and it's funny, enchanting, and deeply reassuring. There's a nobility in Zero for Conduct; not just in the kids but in Vigo's joy at their impulses. As is also true of his heartbreakingly beautiful L'Atalante, it's one of the world's great movies.

NEXT STOP … L'Atalante, The 400 Blows, If…

1933 49m/B FR Jean Daste, Robert Le Flon, Louis Lef'evre, Constantin Kelber, Gerard de Bedarieux; D: Jean Vigo; W: Jean Vigo; C: Boris Kaufman. VHS VYY, NOS, HHT