Directed by Louis Malle • 1960 • France
Starring Catherine Demongeot, Philippe Noiret
A brash and precocious ten-year-old (Catherine Demongeot) comes to Paris for a whirlwind weekend with her rakish uncle (Philippe Noiret); he and the viewer get more than they bargained for, however, in this anarchic comedy from Louis Malle, which rides roughshod over the City of Light. Based on a popular novel by Raymond Queneau that had been considered unadaptable, Malle’s audacious ZAZIE DANS LE MÉTRO (“Zazie in the Metro”), made with flair on the cusp of the French New Wave, is a bit of stream-of-consciousness slapstick, wall-to-wall with visual gags, editing tricks, and effects.
Up Next in French New Wave
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Lola
Directed by Jacques Demy • 1961 • France, Italy
Starring Anouk Aimée, Marc MichelJacques Demy’s crystalline debut gave birth to the fictional universe in which so many of his characters would live, play, and love. It’s among his most profoundly felt films, a tale of crisscrossing lives in Nante...
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Chronicle of a Summer
Directed by Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin • 1961 • France
Few films can claim as much influence on the course of cinema history as CHRONICLE OF A SUMMER. The fascinating result of a collaboration between filmmaker-anthropologist Jean Rouch and sociologist Edgar Morin, this vanguard work of what Mor...
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Paris Belongs to Us
Directed by Jacques Rivette • 1961 • France
Starring Betty Schneider, François Maistre, Giani EspositoOne of the original critics turned filmmakers who helped jump-start the French New Wave, Jacques Rivette began shooting his debut feature in 1958, well before that cinema revolution officially ...
