This may be the wackiest, most free-spirited film of the French New Wave. Where others redirected all that they loved about films of the past to the ironies and anxieties of the moment, Malle made a true paean to the silent comedies that were not hitting us over the head with anything, leaving that to the characters to do to one another. Eleven-year-old Zazie is abandoned by her amorous mother to spend the weekend in Paris with her eccentric uncle (Philippe Noiret) and his beautiful wife. (She makes dresses, he wears them, at night in his cabaret gig.) Zazie takes after her uncle-she's impulsive, forthright, and selfish-and he takes after her, all over the sidewalks of Paris where she hoodwinks a willing populace. Malle finds the cinematic equivalent of Raymond Queneau's novel in an orgy of outrageous sight-gags, visual games, changing speeds, and changing characters. William Klein served as visual director.