Jean Vigo

Zéro de conduite

Zéro de conduite

So effervescent and charming that one can easily forget its importance in film history, Jean Vigo’s enormously influential portrait of prankish boarding-school students is one of cinema’s great acts of rebellion. Based on the director’s own experiences as a youth, Zéro de conduite presents childhood as a time of unfettered imagination and brazen rule-flouting. It’s a sweet-natured vision of sabotage made vivid by dynamic visual experiments—including the famous, blissful slow-motion pillow fight.

Film Info

  • France
  • 1933
  • 44 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.19:1
  • French

Available In

Collector's Set

The Complete Jean Vigo

The Complete Jean Vigo

Blu-ray Box Set

1 Disc

$27.96

Collector's Set

The Complete Jean Vigo

The Complete Jean Vigo

DVD Box Set

2 Discs

$20.96

Zéro de conduite
Cast
Jean Dasté
Huguet
Robert Le Flon
Perrain (Old Tightass)
Blanchar, a.k.a. Du Verron
General supervisor (Beanpole)
Delphin
Headmaster
Léon Larive
M. Viot
Madame Émile
Ma Beans
Louis de Gonzague-Frick
Government prefect
Louis Lefebvre
Caussat
Gilbert Pruchon
Colin
Coco Golstein/Constantin Kelber
Bruel
Gérard de Bédarieux
Tabard
Louis Berger
Guardian
Henri Storck
Priest
Credits
Director
Jean Vigo
Screenplay
Jean Vigo
Collaborators
Albert Riéra
Collaborators
Henri Storck
Collaborators
Pierre Merle
Sound
Royné–Bocquel
Director of photography
Boris Kaufman
Operator assistant
Louis Berger
Dialogue by
Charles Goldblatt
Music
Maurice Jaubert
Editing
Jean Vigo

Current

Zéro de conduite: Rude Freedom
Zéro de conduite: Rude Freedom
French sociologist Roger Caillois proposed that every form of human recreation could be placed somewhere on a continuum between two terms: ludus and paidia. The first of these represents games defined almost wholly by their rule systems. Crossword pu…

By B. Kite

Jean Vigo
Jean Vigo
Let there be no trouble, no pranks . . . Do you realize the enormity of our moral responsibility? —Headmaster in Zéro de conduite There is nothing in the history of movies that mirrors or matches the achievement of Jean Vigo. His four films can be…

By Michael Almereyda

A Feast of Vigo, Newly Restored
A Feast of Vigo, Newly Restored

The complete works of French cinema rebel Jean Vigo are coming to theaters in gorgeous new restorations.

Cinéastes de notre temps for Our Times: A Conversation with Richard Peña
Cinéastes de notre temps for Our Times: A Conversation with Richard Peña

Programmer Michael Sragow and former Film Society of Lincoln Center program director Richard Peña discuss the holy grail of cinephile TV series and the legendary figures it profiled.

By Michael Sragow

Douglas Hart’s Top 10
Douglas Hart’s Top 10

Douglas Hart is a filmmaker, video director, and founding member of the Jesus and Mary Chain.

Keegan McHargue’s Top 10
Keegan McHargue’s Top 10

Keegan McHargue is a painter whose work has been exhibited throughout the world and draws on many facets of culture, with a particular affinity for film.