“No, but you will shut up! », repeats Gabriel (Franck Vincent) to his niece Zazie (Alexandra Datman, a revelation), whose mother (Florence Pelly), who has a date with her latest “naughty”, entrusts her with custody. “ My ass! », proclaims the person concerned, who wants to become a teacher “to piss off the kids”. Fortunately for good morals, the girl, who would be “13 years old” – Raymond Queneau ignores her age in Zazie dans le métro -, does not have her tongue in her pocket. The little provincial has two obsessions: taking the metro, but there is a strike, and she will have to take the taxi of Charles (Gilles Vajou), Gabriel’s friend. And find out whether or not his uncle, who wears “ Barbouze, a perfume from Fior”, is “ hormosessual”. “ It seems that with him, I have nothing to fear,” she says.
The truth comes from the mouths of children. Rebel in a striped polo shirt and jeans, uncontrollable, Zazie doesn’t hold back. Like an elephant in a china shop, the little girl jostles and disturbs the “honest people”, pinning down social conventions in a stylized Paris. Recounts the “disappearances” of his father killed by his mother. She sends Turandot, the owner of the apartment (Fabrice Pillet), the police officer Trouscaillon or the widow Mouaque, away, encounters Mado P’tits Pieds (Delphine Gardin) and potential satyrs. The insults rain down. “You see how well a skunk of this age already thinks? », points out Gabriel (Jean Fürst, on his side under a blonde wig) to his wife, the worthy Marceline.
Who other than Zabou Breitman could transpose Raymond Queneau’s novel (Gallimard, 1959) so well into the theater? The actress-director, whose parents were members of the Oulipo (Ouvroir of potential literature), cut and modified the original text, but the “oulipian” essence, fanciful and mocking of the author, is there. Louis Malle was more cautious in his film in 1960.
We can guess that the former host of “Récré A2” has affection for her heroine. Nicknamed Zazie as a child, Zabou Breitman restores her outspokenness. The Homeric text mixed with a hint of Shakespeare – Queneau even thought of Pirandello for a time – seems to have been written yesterday. “I did what I pleased,” said this precursor of
Zabou Breitman follows in his footsteps with the brilliant Reinhardt Wagner, whose lively compositions accompany Zazie’s journey. The two artists had already teamed up for Poil de carotte (2019). Remarkably, musicians also play characters. Zabou Breitman exploits the arts of music hall, cartoons and dance to deliver an incredible and impertinent fable that makes people laugh, but not only that.
Zazie in the metro, at MC93 in Bobigny, until March 23. Then on tour.
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