Mapping Zazie’s Paris in Louis Malle’s Zazie dans le métro (1960)

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article analyses the on-screen interaction between the gamine Zazie and the city of Paris in Louis Malle’s Zazie dans le métro, an overlooked aspect of the film whose critical reception has mostly focused on the topic of adaptation. Through a close reading of Zazie’s spatial practices, it shows that her fragmented and chaotic trajectories in the urban space actively subvert the city’s iconicity. The protagonist gravitates towards affective vortexes in the urban space and gets lost in powerful dérives, which reveal Surrealist and Lettrist/Situationist influences. Zazie’s cartography of Paris plots a correspondingly tumultuous terrain with disjointed juxtapositions, circular movements, and Surrealist predispositions. While closely mirroring the protagonist’s feelings, this space also engages with the city’s previous roles on screen. Finally, the article argues that Zazie’s freedom of movement, anchored in a real and vibrant Parisian landscape, screens a rare image of female subjectivity in urban space.