William Klein: Zazie dans le Métro Louis Malle, France 1960, colour, French with English subtitles, 93 min, Source: Gaumont

 Adapted from Raymond Queneau’s popular 1959 children’s book Zazie dans le métro only one year after the book’s publication, Malle’s audacious film was made at a vibrant moment for French cinema, on the cusp of the New Wave, with iconic art direction by William Klein. Paris is transformed into a free-spirited, urban playground for the precocious, ten-year-old Zazie, who comes to the city for a whirlwind weekend with her Uncle Gabriel. With gleeful abandon, Zazie upturns the world of adults with a unique combination of charm, sass and malevolence. The film’s exhiliarating mix of slapstick, speed and riotous behaviour fuels Zazie’s foul-mouthed, defiant journey through a seedy wonderland of crime, gender bending, violence and perverse hilarity.