Zero de Conduite Details

Comical, lyrical, surreal and packed with references to animator Emile Cohl, Abel Gance and Charlie Chaplin, this savage satire on public school life was considered so inflammatory by the French authorities that it was banned until 1945. Reflecting the militancy of his anarchist father and a loathing of the institutions that blighted his sickly childhood, Jean Vigo abandoned traditional narrative and formal principles and experimented with angles, perspectives and space to convey the psychological state of the rebellious students. However, the film's elliptical poetry was something of an accident, as Vigo was forced to abbreviate the action to fit the agreed running time.