Simply Perfect

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Films featuring metro are a sub genre in itself.In French cinema,2 of the most eccentric metro films are :subway and Zazie dans le métro.On the one hand "Subway" is more of an "in the metro" film,on the other hand "Zazie dans le métro" can be defined as something of "outside the metro" film.Nothing much happens in the metro itself.This is because in the film Parisian metro is just a metaphor in order to allow a young girl to explore the intricacies of the adults' behavior.The young girl whose role is nicely played by Catherine Demongeot is a veritable trouble maker.Although she is in Paris to enjoy her stay, she is more interested in pestering her uncle.Great French actor (now dead),Philippe Noiret plays the role of the hapless uncle who is absolutely at a loss as to how to reply to his niece's absurd questions.This film by Louis Malle is quite unusual as there is no other film which can match its spirit of freewheeling fun.For fact finders, the film is based on a novel by Raymond Queneau who was close to surrealist writers of his times.

This is one of the few movies on IMDb that I just couldn't finish watching--it was THAT bad. And, this is another example of a movie with reasonably decent IMDb reviews that seems way out of proportion. Even if it's not as bad as I think, it's hard to imagine it being a great film, that's for sure. But, once again I might just be an old crank. Read along and you be the judge.This movie was directed by Louis Malle--a very well-respected director, to say the least. However, this film just doesn't show the talents that would be so evident in films like AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS. This film just looks lousy by modern standards of film making--not especially professional or polished. This is because so much in the film is telegraphed and painfully slapstick. And, at times, the camera and music speed up to let us know "it's time to laugh"--like what you might expect in a high school pageant when someone is doing a lame Charlie Chaplin impersonation. Then, when you combine this very broad humor(?) with a foul-mouthed little brat, you have the ingredients of a thoroughly unappealing,...nay, annoying film. Stupid and unfunny slapstick and an annoying brat--it's like watching a 90 minute migraine! This movie, like the French love of Jerry Lewis, is something I just don't get.

This is a screen adaptation of one of those novels they said couldn't be filmed. Raymonde Queneau is a sort of James Joyce-lite whose work is studded with word-play but Jean-Paul Rappeneau and director Louis Malle make it work. A simple premise - Zazie, played by 12 year old Catherine Demongeot, is brought to Paris by her mother and dumped on uncle (Philippe Noiret) so mom can enjoy some R and R with her latest boyfriend. Zazie has only one desire, to see and ride on the Metro but the Metro is on strike - spins out of control as foul-mouthed Zazie takes off on her own and encounters a succession of pre-Monty Python/Basil Fawlty types in nothing flat. As if this bouillabaisse needed seasoning Uncle is a drag artist though straight with it. If you don't respond to zany humour you'll find it infantile - as at least one commenter did - if not chances are you'll rejoice.

A product of the French New Wave, this movie is more than 40 years old, but it still has the powers to make you leave your mouth open, either to laugh or just to be in awe. Extremely different from anything you can find on the screens today, "Zazie" is able to entertain you even without a coherent plot or a bunch of lines that make sense. A dark-short-haired witty little girl goes around an extremely colorful Paris meeting unusual and funny people. Does this remind you of anything? Actually "Zazie" had already gone beyond the borders of the land that would be explored by "Amelie" 40 years later. Maybe this means that the future is behind our backs? It is time to turn around.