cstotlar-1 I don't particularly relish being the odd man out here but a I found this film exhausting to watch. It is amusing however to see the author show off his stuff with the camera and editing and in fact parts of it DO look Nouvelle Vaguish. Even by French standards the girl here - Zazie - has a foul mouth and her insolence does wear on the nerves quite a bit even by midway through the viewing. The film is or isn't going somewhere/ nowhere very, very fast. In all honesty this is nothing next to "Lacombe Lucien" or "Au Revoir Les Enfants" or even "Atlantic City" where Malle practically glows in the dark. It feels to me like a film with a few skits that's been pumped up to the length of a full-length movie and I found myself really rather happy to see all the action come to a halt. Tant pis!

gavin6942 When the mother of Zazie comes to Paris to meet her lover, she leaves her daughter with her uncle Gabriel. However the reckless and uncontrollable niece leaves Gabriel's apartment and decides to visit Paris by subway.Some reviewers see in this film the roots of "Amelie". Others may see a very French version of "Catcher in the Rye", albeit nowhere near as dark. What we certainly have is a fast-paced slapstick screwball film of a little girl in a big city where nothing goes right. And also a sheep or a dog or something.While the film is not heavily structured in any narrative sense, it is quite fun in how it uses stream of consciousness to tell its tale. In a way, the sum is greater than its parts because the story is the experience itself.

evanh-1 I've just seen this movie on DVD and enjoyed the humor and wit. According to some Dutch and French web-pages like http://perso.orange.fr/cinefrance/1960/zazie.html Zazie is not played by 12yo Catherine but by a 9½yo Milène, what seems right to me by the looks of her, she's definitely too petite for a 12yo, age 9 or 10 seems much more likely. In the trailer she is described as a 9½yo too. Her lines seem a little too adult now and then, but bear in mind who wrote the scenario! Louis Malle was famous for breaking taboos. This movie was intended for enjoyment, like a comedy, but with a sharp view on the changing French society. Also some comments on hypocritical ways of dealing with taboos like homosexuality and "dirty old men". Funny to see the traffic congestion in Paris, already then, and the looney effects, inspired by Tex Avery.

monabe Great cinema, with a wonderful exuberance and style. Louis Malle showed his great talent and versatility in this romp of cheeky comedy. Blessed with a Zazie that (for me ) captures the essence of the character originally created by Raymond Queneau, this is a 60's French film that continues to bring naive pleasure to those to whom it is a memory of the renaissance of French cinema in the early 60's, and (hopefully) will still retain a few inspirational moments for those see this movie thirty years on and who have had the benefit of later comedic directors who learned from this well-crafted and thoroughly entertaining movie.