Zéro de conduite is a 1933 French film directed by Jean Vigo

Jean Vigo

Jean Vigo was a French film director, who helped establish poetic realism in film in the 1930s and was a posthumous influence on the French New Wave of the late 1950s and early 1960s.-Biography:...

. It was first shown on 7 April 1933, and was subsequently banned in France until 15 February 1946.

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 view of childhood

Childhood

Childhood is the age span ranging from birth to adolescence. In developmental psychology, childhood is divided up into the developmental stages of toddlerhood , early childhood , middle childhood , and adolescence .- Age ranges of childhood :The term childhood is non-specific and can imply a...

. The title refers to a mark the boys would get which prevented from going out on Sundays. It also shows the influence of Alfred Jarry

Alfred Jarry

Alfred Jarry was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mother's side....

's play Ubu Roi

Ubu Roi

Ubu Roi is a play by Alfred Jarry, premiered in 1896. It is a precursor of the Theatre of the Absurd and Surrealism. It is the first of three stylised burlesques in which Jarry satirises power, greed, and their evil practices — in particular the propensity of the complacent bourgeois to abuse the...

.

Though the film was not immediately popular, it has proven to be enduringly influential. François Truffaut

François Truffaut

François Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five...

 paid homage to Zéro de conduite in his 1959 film The 400 Blows

The 400 Blows

The 400 Blows is a 1959 French film directed by François Truffaut. One of the defining films of the French New Wave, it displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. The story revolves around Antoine Doinel, an ordinary adolescent in Paris, who is thought by his parents and teachers...

. 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.

Cast

• Jean Dasté
  Jean Dasté
  Jean Dasté, born Jean Georges Gustave Dasté, was an actor and theatre director....
  
   — Surveillant Huguet
• Robert le Flon — Surveillant Pète-Sec
• Du Verron — Surveillant-Général Bec-de-Gaz (as du Verron)
• Delphin — Principal du Collège
• Léon Larive
  Léon Larive
  Léon Larive was a French film actor. He appeared in 95 films between 1923 and 1961.-Selected filmography:* Return to Life * The Rules of the Game * The Tale of the Fox -External links:...
  
  — 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)
• Louis Lefebvre — Caussat
• Gilbert Pruchon — Colin
• Coco Golstein — Bruel
• Gérard de Bédarieux — Tabard

External links

• Watch the film on Google Video