Zazie dans le Métro (1960)
Genre: Comedy, Surrealist, Adventure
Directed by Louis Malle, Zazie dans le Métro is a wildly imaginative and anarchic French comedy that captures the spirit of the New Wave with a childlike sense of wonder and chaos. Based on the novel by Raymond Queneau, the film follows the adventures of Zazie, a precocious and sharp-tongued young girl visiting Paris for the weekend.
Zazie’s one dream is to ride the Paris Métro—but when a transit strike thwarts her plans, she sets off on a madcap journey through the city, dragging her eccentric uncle Gabriel and a parade of oddball characters into her whirlwind of rebellion, mischief, and philosophical musings.
The film is a stylistic tour de force—fast-paced, visually inventive, and filled with absurdist humor. Malle employs slapstick, sped-up action, wordplay, and surreal editing techniques that turn Paris into a cartoonish, topsy-turvy playground. Beneath its comic surface, however, the film slyly critiques adult hypocrisy, conformity, and postwar French society.
Catherine Demongeot shines as Zazie, delivering a performance that is both hilarious and fearless. Her energy propels the film forward as she tears through the adult world with unfiltered honesty and infectious curiosity.
Zazie dans le Métro is not just a comedy—it’s a joyful, chaotic celebration of freedom, imagination, and youthful defiance. It remains a cult classic and a daring piece of cinema that refuses to sit still.
Have you seen Zazie dans le Métro? What did you think of its playful style and cheeky critique of grown-up life? Let’s talk about it below! 👇
