Zero for Conduct (1933, dir. Jean Vigo, France) by Patrick McElroy

In every culture we know we have to grow up, which means losing the sense of childishness so we can take responsibility and be more considerate and open in our ways of thinking. But what we forget is our sense of childlikeness, which people often conflate with childishness – a sense of wonder, joy, and innocence. Adults forget what it’s like to be a kid, and force the worldly values of alignment, greed, and conformity on adolescence.

This has made for unique cinematic explorations of a child’s mindset, so adults can again experience the sense of youth that they’ve lost. One of the first films to deal with this is Jean Vigo’s short film Zero for Conduct, which was released ninety years ago this year.

The film is told through the points-of-view of four adolescent boys in a conformist boarding school in France as they rebel against the repressive system. Vigo was only 28 when he made this short film. He had previously made two shorts, and the following year would make his only feature film, the landmark masterpiece L’Atalante, for he would die of tuberculosis the same year.

Being a creative person, he would have a better memory of what it was like being a child, for an artist has to maintain that sense of wonder and has to battle the authorities trying to oppress his vision.  At a young age Vigo maintains a sense of experimentation throughout the film, including an early use of slow motion in one dream sequence.

Vigo is at times like Jean Renoir in that he captures a sense of reality, but is also like Luis Bunuel, in that he captures a sense of surrealism – the slow-motion sequence is a precursor to one Bunuel would do in his 1950 film Los Olvidados,  which also explores the lives of children.

The film would have a major impact on Francois Truffaut, and  would influence his 1959 masterpiece The 400 Blows, which features a boy who doesn’t fit in with the French schooling system. It would loosely be remade as Lindsay Anderson’s 1969  classic If… where he unmasks the British schooling system.

Then in Brian Selznick’s children’s book The Invention of Hugo Cabret, there’s a character named Rene Tabard after the main character in this film, and the film would be an influence on Martin Scorsese when he made the  masterful film adaption of the book Hugo. While Vigo’s career would be short, it’s still a marvel too look at the work he did, and if you’ve forgotten what it’s like to be a child, Zero for Conduct is a great reminder.

Patrick McElroy is a movie writer and movie lover based in Los Angeles. Check out his other writing at: https://www.facebook.com/patrick.mcelroy.3726 or his IG: @mcelroy.patrick