by Aaron West
Warning: this review contains spoilers.
Zéro de conduite is the most fully revealed of Vigo’s “social cinema.” Even though his anarchist politics were complicated, Zéro de conduite helps clear them up. In some respects it is a blueprint for exactly the type of anarchic revolution that Vigo longed for, yet it takes place in the unlikely setting of a young boy’s school.
The children in the boy’s home are characters that many can relate to. They push the boundaries of authority, and try to get away with whatever they can. They are into hijinx, practical jokes, and overall misbehavior. They are not a peaceful bunch, and they give it to their teachers at every opportunity, whether to their face or behind their backs. The only exception is Monsieur Huguet, who they find as an ally and a character that understands them.
The other teachers are impatient for any mischievousness, and they rule with an iron fist. “Zero for Conduct” is the punishment for any transgression. It means that they are not given their freedom on Sundays to visit family or friends, and instead are required to stay in school at detention. Furthermore, the teachers dole out the punishment arbitrarily and unfairly. Vigo is intending to portray this as a totalitarian state where the lower class’ (or children’s) rights are being impeded.
The children may be the goats, but they also get to be the heroes. With some assistance from the friendly teacher, they lay out plans for rebellion. The planning is carefully orchestrated and is not put into action until the authority tries to compromise one of the oppressed. It begins with an expletive, continues with a rowdy food fight, and the revolt is in progress. The children hoist their flag and march with exaltation. The sense of freedom and liberation is palpable, just as Vigo expects that it would be in reality. Even though the film is of revolution, it is combined with the exuberance of childhood merrymaking.
Zéro de conduite was banned for a number of reasons. First and foremost, there is clear male nudity during the march scene. There is also the acknowledgement of a homosexual relationship between two males, one of which looks effeminate to easily be confused as a girl (full disclosure: I thought he was a she during the first viewing). Not only is it apparent on screen, but even the school officials take notice. In one scene when the pair are walking arm in arm, the headmaster tells another teacher that “we need to keep an eye on these two.” This was 1933, where the subject of homosexuality was barely even believed in common society, much less presented in the media arts. Finally, there was religious consecration as the children place one teacher in a crucifixion pose during the rebellion. This was too much for the censors.
While Zero for Conduct is an understandably controversial film that was a product of the post-Bolshevik era and Vigo’s politics, it is also far ahead of it’s time in film language. During the early years of French Poetic Realism, there had been plenty of radical images, but none that came close to Vigo’s penultimate film.
Thanks again for letting me participate in the party, Sammy. Vigo is a treasure if you ask me.
As always an honor to have you my friend!
Zero de conduit is a treasure, and if you ask me, the demolishing of social order couldn’t ask for a more appropriate and fertile ground than a young boys boarding school. You have the wonderfully volatile mix of boys at the age where nothing is to be respected and youthful zeal is in the destruction and death of all around them (as Townshend would later gleefully pen in the Who’s ‘I’m a Boy’, “I wanna play cricket on the green/Ride my bike across the street\Cut myself and see my blood\I wanna come home all covered in mud”) coupled with an institution that respects manners and hierarchal order just for the sake of manners and order in spite of common sense and human development. Vigo has just a blast with blasting it all up to smithereens, himself seemingly turning back the clock to his own youthful exuberance.
A clear precursor to Anderson’s equally great If…., both are essential cinema works of pro-revolution which is the truest plain an art form can approach.
Nice, brisk review.
Jamie, thanks for the great comment! I agree that Vigo had a blast making this film. He probably enjoyed it the most, with maybe Apropos de Nice shortly behind it. I agree that the boarding school was a wonderful arena to destroy social order. After all, the school is a major part of a person’s socialization into this world.
As a matter of fact, we just podcasted about If …. a couple weeks ago and made the same connection. It is a fun comparison to make, and yes, Vigo was an enormous influence on Anderson.
http://criterionblues.com/2015/09/07/episode-5-if-angry-young-men/
The breakdown of order in a boys’ school is comparable to the disintegration of civility in LORD OF THE FLIES, though Vigo’s masterpiece is far less austere and imbued by disarming humor. This burst of rebellion and anarchy is a cinematic tour de force, incorporating elements of surrealism and featuring one of the great scenes in the cinema – the pillow fight. You superbly capture the feel and vitality of this film, Aaron. You rightly note it was well ahead of its time! Great stuff here!
That is also an apt comparison. Yes, they rebel with a pillow fight. That is among my favorite scenes of cinema. Vigo’s revolution is an adolescent expression of exuberant joy.
yeah that is surely the most memorable scene for most…and for good reason.
I believe I voted for this in the top 3. One of the all time greatest films and filled with a zeal for anarchy and rebellion and revolution. Hard to add anything else to the comment section here and Jamie said it so well. Needless to say I view this film very highly. Wished it would have made the top 10!
One of the great films. Subversive and as true a picture of the repressive nature of schooling as has graced the screen. Vigo was “inspired” by melancholy recollections of his own “stretch” at boarding school.
There is also a delicious surrealism to Zero with the rebellion against “stuffed shirts” and the principal played by a boy with a fake beard down to his shoes!
Something I have said elsewhere at WitD… The boys’ manifesto which is read as a prelude to the pillow riot is as clear a statement of grievances as has been put on the screen ever, and it is read by the effeminate boy who comes from being an outsider abused by the teachers and ostracized by the other schoolboys to a revolutionary cadre after his acceptance by the two conspirators. Vive la revolution!
Huguet isn’t a teacher – he’s one of the ‘pions’, often university students employed to watch over classes when the kids don’t have lessons.