Zazie dans le Métro
1960 film by Louis Malle
Zazie dans le Métro (translated as Zazie in the Metro and sometimes called Zazie) is a 1960 French comedy film directed by Louis Malle, based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Raymond Queneau. Frequently surreal, and full of visual and verbal jokes, the plot follows a group of protean characters around a crowded Paris during a Métro strike.
Plot
At a Paris railway terminus, Gabriel greets his sister Jeanne, who leaves her ten-year-old daughter Zazie with him and goes off with her latest lover. Gabriel takes the child out to the taxi of his friend Charles, to Zazie's dismay: she wants to go on the Métro, but the workers are on strike. They arrive at Turandot's café, above which Gabriel lodges, and he hands the child over to his wife Albertine, who puts her to bed. Gabriel gets himself ready to go to work, on the way out getting into a dispute with Turandot, who is appalled by Zazie's precocity and filthy language.
In the morning, Zazie sneaks out alone but Turandot spots her and follows her. When he tries to take her home, she accuses him of paedophilia and a crowd gathers. Turandot is obliged to slink away and, when Gabriel returns from work, over several glasses tells him what has happened. After talking to Gridoux, the cobbler next door, instead of searching, Gabriel decides to go to bed.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Zazie dans le Métro” as 1960 film by Louis Malle. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1960 film by Louis Malle. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q167905. VIAF identifies the subject as 217043418. 10 of 11 selected statements include explicit references; 10 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1960 and 1959.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Zazie dans le Métro” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.