Thoughts on About Nice and Zero for Conduct

 Both About Nice and Zero for Conduct deal with the complacency of the French upper class, and their inability to comprehend the difficulties, and challenges facing the poorer classes of French society. In some ways the two films represent a complete work, suggesting that Zero for conduct is the result of the complacency and boredom present in About Nice. Now, I am aware that Zero for Conduct depicts the inner workings of a boarding school, which suggests high society. However, this boarding school is  a microcosm of the French class system, with the students representing the lower class and the faculty representing the upper class. Thus, the student's revolt against their teachers, not only suggests the complacency of the French ruling class, but also their unwillingness to realize that it is the lower class which wields the greatest power.

            About Nice seems to bolster the ideas present in Zero for Conduct by the way it is structurally designed. Vigo presents a film more akin to a documentary than a narrative picture. About Nice, paints a portrait of French nobility that suggests an unwillingness to assist those less fortunate than themselves. The film is strengthened by its documentary presentation more so then most films that deal with everyday life in this montage style because it depicts life as necessary and worthwhile, no matter your financial situation. That is why  About Nice and Zero for Conduct can be considered a single examination of the French class system.