Overview
A mischievous trio of students turns a stuffy boarding school upside down with their antics.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- None
- anarchic
- witty
- surreal
- classic cinema night
- arthouse film night
What critics said
Critics now broadly regard Jean Vigo's audacious school revolt as an influential, formally inventive classic, despite its initially divisive reception.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Bruel, Caussat, and Colin organize the students' takeover of the school's Commemoration Day celebrations against authoritarian educators.
The boys' rebellion is rendered through heightened classroom behavior, playful disruptions, and physically impossible-seeming gestures such as Huguet's handstands.
Teachers, monitors, and the principal repeatedly impose punitive discipline while appearing ridiculous and morally compromised.
The enclosed boys' boarding school concentrates authority figures, disciplinary rituals, peer status, and organized resistance in one social environment.
Films like Zero for Conduct, and why
The 400 Blows
rebellious schoolchildren, anti-authoritarian energy, and lyrical childhood perspective
if....
boarding-school revolt, institutional critique, and surrealized adolescent rebellion
The Wild Boys
playful anarchic comedy, youthful mischief, and formal daring
Movie Details
- Director
- Jean Vigo
- Release Date
- 1933-04-07
- Runtime
- 48 min
- Rating
- 6.9 / 10 (269)
Cast
- Jean Dasté
- Robert le Flon
- Du Verron
- Delphin
- Léon Larive
- Madame Émile
- Louis de Gonzague
- Raphaël Diligent
- Louis Lefebvre
- Gilbert Pruchon
Common questions
- What is Zero for Conduct about?
- A mischievous boarding-school uprising turns childish pranks into a poetic assault on authoritarian discipline.
- What is Zero for Conduct like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Zero for Conduct as brisk, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Zero for Conduct violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in Zero for Conduct.
- What did critics think of Zero for Conduct?
- Critics now broadly regard Jean Vigo's audacious school revolt as an influential, formally inventive classic, despite its initially divisive reception.
- Which films are like Zero for Conduct?
- Films with a similar feel include The 400 Blows, if...., and The Wild Boys.
- How long is Zero for Conduct?
- Zero for Conduct runs 48 minutes.
