Zero for Conduct

Zero for Conduct (Zéro de conduite, 1933) is a French short film to watch online on iFILM, directed by Jean Vigo — made one year before his death at twenty-nine. French censors banned it from public screening for nearly two decades after its release.

The setting is a strict boarding school where the harshest punishment is simple: zero for conduct means no weekend pass. Four boys decide they have had enough and plan a rebellion timed to a school celebration. Vigo shoots it with an anarchic, dreamy rhythm that feels nothing like the moral tales boarding-school films were supposed to be. The kids aren't heroes. They're just done.

The film is widely credited as a direct ancestor of Truffaut's The 400 Blows and a touchstone of the French avant-garde. Its ban lasted until 1945, officially for what the authorities called its "anti-French spirit." Forty-eight minutes that got a director's entire short career suppressed. Watch Zero for Conduct (1933) online on iFILM.