''Zero for Conduct'' (french: Zéro de conduite) is a 1933 French
featurette
In the American film industry, a featurette is a kind of film that is shorter than a full-length feature, but longer than a short film. The term may refer to either of two types of content: a shorter film or a companion film.
Medium-length film ...
directed by
Jean Vigo
Jean Vigo (; 26 April 1905 – 5 October 1934) was a French film director who helped establish poetic realism in film in the 1930s. His work influenced French New Wave cinema of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Biography
Vigo was born to Emil ...
. It was first shown on 7 April 1933 and was subsequently banned in France until November 1945.
[Temple (2011), p. 145.]
The film draws extensively on Vigo's boarding school experiences to depict a repressive and bureaucratised educational establishment in which surreal acts of rebellion occur, reflecting Vigo's
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
view of
childhood
A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...
. The title refers to a mark the boys would get which prevented them from going out on Sundays.
Though the film was not an immediate success with audiences, it has proven to be enduringly influential.
François Truffaut
François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After a career of more tha ...
paid homage to ''Zero for Conduct'' in his film ''
The 400 Blows
''The 400 Blows'' (french: Les Quatre Cents Coups) is a 1959 French coming-of-age drama film, and the directorial debut of François Truffaut. The film, shot in DyaliScope, stars Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, and Claire Maurier. One of ...
'' (1959). The anarchic classroom and recess scenes in Truffaut's film borrow from Vigo's film, as does a classic scene in which a mischievous group of schoolboys are led through the streets by one of their schoolmasters. Director
Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Gordon Anderson (17 April 1923 – 30 August 1994) was a British feature-film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading-light of the Free Cinema movement and of the British New Wave. He is most widely remembered for h ...
has acknowledged that his own film ''
if....'' was inspired by ''Zero for Conduct''.
Plot
Four rebellious young boys at a repressive French boarding school plot and execute a revolt against their teachers and take over the school.
[Wakeman (1987), p. 1139.]
Cast
* Gérard de Bédarieux – Tabard
* Louis Lefebvre – Caussat
*
Gilbert Pruchon – Colin
* Coco Golstein – Bruel
*
Jean Dasté
Jean Dasté, born Jean Georges Gustave Dasté, (18 September 1904 in Paris, France – 15 October 1994 in Saint-Priest-en-Jarez, Loire, France)Léon Larive
Léon François Larive (28 June 1886 – 20 July 1961) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1923 and 1961.
Selected filmography
* ''Two Timid Souls'' (1928)
* ''The Great Passion'' (1928)
* ''La Passion de Jea ...
– Professeur (as Larive)
* Madame Émile – Mère Haricot (as Mme. Emile)
* Louis de Gonzague – Préfet (as Louis de Gonzague-Frick)
* Raphaël Diligent – Pompier (as Rafa Diligent)
Production
In late 1932, Vigo and his wife Lydou Vigo were both in poor health and Vigo was at a low point in his career. He then met and befriended Jacques-Louis Nounez, a rich businessman who was interested in making films. Vigo discussed the idea of a film about his childhood experiences at a
Millau
Millau (; oc, Milhau ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Aveyron Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region in Southern France. One of two Subprefectures in France, subp ...
boarding school and Nounez agreed to finance it.
''Zero for Conduct'' was shot from December 1932 until January 1933 with a budget of 200,000 francs. Vigo used mostly non-professional actors and sometimes people that he found on the street. The four main characters are all based on real people that Vigo had known in his youth. Caussat and Bruel were based on friends from Millau, Colin was based on a friend he had known in Chartes and Tabard was based on Vigo himself. The teachers depicted in the film were based on the guards at
''La Petite Roquette'' juvenile prison where Vigo's father
Miguel Almereyda
Eugène Bonaventure Jean-Baptiste Vigo (known as Miguel Almereyda; 5 January 1883 – 14 August 1917) was a French journalist and activist against militarism.
He was first an Anarchism, anarchist and then a socialist. He founded and wrote in the ne ...
had once been an inmate. The film's soundtrack was of poor quality due to budgetary constraints but Vigo's use of poetic, rhythmic dialogue has been said to make it much easier to understand what characters are saying.
At one point in the film, Tabard tells his teachers "shit on you!", which was once a famous headline in a French newspaper that Vigo's father had directed at all world governments. Vigo's poor health became worse during the film's production but he was able to complete the editing.
[Wakeman (1987), p. 1140.]
Reception
The film was first screened on April 7, 1933 in Paris. The premiere shocked many audience members who hissed and booed Vigo. Other audience members, most notably
Jacques Prevert
Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...
, loudly clapped.
French film critics were strongly divided about the film. Some called it "simply ridiculous" and compared it to "lavatory flushing" while others praised its "fiery daring" and called Vigo "the
Céline
Céline, sometimes spelled Celine, is a French female first name of Latin origin, coming from ''Caelīna'', the feminine form of the Roman cognomen ''Caelīnus'', meaning "heavenly". of the cinema."
The film's most vocal critics included a French Catholic journal which called it a scatological work by "an obsessed maniac." ''Zero for Conduct'' was quickly banned in France, with some believing that the French Ministry of the Interior considered it a threat capable of "creating disturbances and hindering the maintenance of order."
Rediscovery
Like all of Vigo's work, ''Zero for Conduct'' first began to be rediscovered in about 1945 when a revival screening of his films was organized. Since then, its reputation has grown and it has influenced such films as
François Truffaut
François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After a career of more tha ...
's ''
The 400 Blows
''The 400 Blows'' (french: Les Quatre Cents Coups) is a 1959 French coming-of-age drama film, and the directorial debut of François Truffaut. The film, shot in DyaliScope, stars Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, and Claire Maurier. One of ...
'' (1959) and
Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Gordon Anderson (17 April 1923 – 30 August 1994) was a British feature-film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading-light of the Free Cinema movement and of the British New Wave. He is most widely remembered for h ...
's ''
if....'' (1968).
Truffaut praised the film and said that "in one sense ''Zero de Conduite'' represents something more rare than ''
L'Atalante
''L'Atalante'', also released as ''Le Chaland qui passe'' ("The Passing Barge"), is a 1934 French film written and directed by Jean Vigo, and starring Jean Dasté, Dita Parlo and Michel Simon.
After the difficult release of his controversial ...
'' because the masterpieces consecrated to childhood in literature or cinema can be counted on the fingers of one hand. They move us doubly since the esthetic emotion is compounded by a biographical, personal and intimate emotion ... They bring us back to our short pants, to school, to the blackboard, to vacations, to our beginnings in life."
Style and themes
Vigo's biographer Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes has discussed Vigo's "extreme sensitivity to anything concerning a child's vulnerability in the adult world" and his "respect for children and their feelings."
Gomes also compared the boarding school in the film to a microcosm of the world, stating that "the division to the children and adults inside the school corresponds to the division of society into classes outside: a strong minority imposing its will on a weak majority."
Awards
The 2011
Parajanov-Vartanov Institute
The Parajanov-Vartanov Institute is an American film organization based in Los Angeles, California, that works to study, preserve and promote the legacy of filmmakers Sergei Parajanov and Mikhail Vartanov
Mikhail Vartanov (russian: Михаил ...
Award posthumously honored Jean Vigo's ''Zero for Conduct''
and was presented to his daughter and French film critic
Luce Vigo
Luce may refer to:
People
* Luce (name), as a given name and a surname
* Luce (singer)
Places
* Luče, a town in Slovenia
* Luce, Minnesota, an unincorporated community
* Luce Bay, a large Bay in Wigtownshire in southern Scotland
* Luce Co ...
by the actor
Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent Voight (; born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. He came to prominence in the late 1960s with his Academy Award–nominated performance as Joe Buck, a would-be gigolo, in ''Midnight Cowboy'' (1969). During the 1970s, he ...
.
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...
wrote a letter for the occasion, with praise for Vigo,
Sergei Parajanov
Sergei Parajanov, ka, სერგო ფარაჯანოვი, uk, Сергій Параджанов (January 9, 1924 – July 20, 1990) was an Armenian filmmaker. Parajanov is regarded by film critics, film historians and filmmakers t ...
and
Mikhail Vartanov
Mikhail Vartanov (russian: Михаил Вартанов, links=no, hy, Միքայել Վարդանով, links=no, french: Mikhaïl Vartanov, links=no; b. February 21, 1937, RSFSR, Soviet Union, now Russian Federation, d. December 31, 2009, Holl ...
, all of whom struggled with heavy censorship.
[
]
References
Bibliography
* (includes complete script)
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External links
*
*
*
"Zéro de conduite: Rude Freedom" by B. Kite. Criterion Collection Essay
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zero De Conduite
1933 films
French teen films
French high school films
Films about anarchism
French black-and-white films
Films directed by Jean Vigo
1930s French-language films
Films about educators
Films set in France
Films set in schools
Films with live action and animation
Films set in boarding schools
Featurettes
French comedy-drama films
1933 comedy-drama films
1930s French films