A visual cartoon. It's colorful, filled with speeded-up action and absurdities, sometimes almost frantic, and seems to combine M. Hulot with Richard Lester's treatment of the Beatles yet to come.
There's nothing much to the story. Nine year old Zazie, a shrill little girl, meets odd people in Paris and impossible things happen. As shocking as it must have seemed at the time, it's more charming than amusing now, after the technique has been anatomized and splayed across the screen so often since then.
And to think this comes from Louis Malle, director of quiet, sensitive, understated tales with an abundance of humanity. Also Candace Bergen as a wife.
Of all the silly characters, Philippe Noiret is the most appealing. He was the same mope then that he is now except so much younger.
It occurs to me that if you're fond of silent comedies with Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, you'll probably like this. It goes beyond the silent comics into the absurdist ionosphere but still --
There's nothing much to the story. Nine year old Zazie, a shrill little girl, meets odd people in Paris and impossible things happen. As shocking as it must have seemed at the time, it's more charming than amusing now, after the technique has been anatomized and splayed across the screen so often since then.
And to think this comes from Louis Malle, director of quiet, sensitive, understated tales with an abundance of humanity. Also Candace Bergen as a wife.
Of all the silly characters, Philippe Noiret is the most appealing. He was the same mope then that he is now except so much younger.
It occurs to me that if you're fond of silent comedies with Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, you'll probably like this. It goes beyond the silent comics into the absurdist ionosphere but still --