Zero de Conduite

The son of noted anarchist Miguel Almeryda, who died in prison in suspicious circumstances, Jean Vigo was himself dead by the age of 29, a victim of tuberculosis.  He left behind only three films, luminous classics of French radical film-making, of which Zero de Conduite (Zero for Conduct) is perhaps the most celebrated.

Despite being made in 1933, the film was banned by both the pre-war French, and wartime Nazi, governments, and was not given a full release until 1946.  Although it was never a commercial success, it has become one of the most loved and influential films of the period, with both Truffaut’s 400 Blows and Lindsay Anderson’s If … paying direct homage in both style and subject matter.

Zero de Conduite is based on Vigo’s father's prison experiences and his own sentence at a Catholic boys’ boarding school, and more specifically at the ways in which adults attempt to suppress the natural exuberance of youth. But Vigo also draws on this experience to comment on institutionalised authority, reflecting the physical and mental coercion exercised by the state, and the petty but necessary acts of rebellion perpetrated by the young inmate-pupils of the establishment.

Vigo was aware of the authenticity of his film, and was conscious of its possible effect on audiences. “In this film, by showing certain basic aspects of a city, a way of life is put on trial” he told a group of avant-garde artists and cultural workers.  “[We see] the last gasps of a society so lost in its escapism that it sickens you and makes you sympathetic to a revolutionary solution."

Certificate: PG