Cinematic Voices in Louis Malle’s Adaptation of Raymond Queneau's Zazie dans le metro

This article examines the relationship between cinematic voices and bodies in Louis Malle’s film adaptation of Raymond Queneau’s Zazie dans le métro/Zazie in the Metro. It analyzes how the medium of film not only limits but also opens up possibilities in the transposition of voice. It first explores the implications of post-synchronization in the film in the heterogeneous relationship between the cinematic voices and bodies, placing the film’s experimentation with voice in its historical New Wave context. It then examines how, as post-synchronization questions the belonging of voices to bodies, the relationship between voices and words is also challenged in a film that posits itself as an adaptation through processes of repetition and recitation. It concludes with an analysis of the potential powers of cinematic voice(s) arising out of the heterogeneity between voices and bodies in film, as voice oscillates between object and event. This article suggests that Malle’s adaptation presents us with a powerful case study for the complex and irrational relationship between cinematic voices and bodies.