Mon Oncle d'Amerique

Starring:GÃ©rard Depardieu, Nicole Garcia, Roger Pierre, Nelly Borgeaud, Pierre Arditi, GÃ©rard Darrieu, Philippe Laudenbach, Marie Dubois, Henri Laborit, Bernard Malaterre, Laurence Roy, Alexandre Rignault, VÃ©ronique Silver, Jean Lescot, GeneviÃ¨ve Mnich, Maurice Gauthier, Guillaume Boisseau, Ina Bedart, Ludovic Salis, FranÃ§ois Calvez
Director: Alain Resnais
Studio: New Yorker Video
Product Type: DVD

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Following a pair of films (Stavisky, Providence) that were more conventionally narrative than his explosively experimental early works (Hiroshima, Mon Amour, Last Year at Marienbad), French New Wave pioneer director Alain Resnais began a cycle of films beginning in 1980 (all written by Jean Gruault) that delved deeply into his philosophical and aesthetic concerns again. The first of these was Mon Oncle d'Amerique, starring Gérard Depardieu as one of three middle-class characters undergoing great degrees of personal stress. Presented as a docudrama of sorts with some pulp-fiction qualities, these parallel tales don't really resolve themselves within their own borders but gain another dimension of subjective resolution when Resnais ushers in a real-life scientist to discuss certain kinds of behavioral triggers in humans. The results are actually very satisfying and witty for viewers who can see the overt psychological elements not as a smug commentary on the action but a means of opening the action to a viewer's subconscious experience. Resnais takes the bold step of creating a new kind of filmed story here, and largely succeeds. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

"The hierarchy of dominance has been established.".......2007-03-08

The film "Mon Oncle D'Amerique" ("My American Uncle") explores events in the lives of three diverse characters against the backdrop of a psychological explanation for their actions. The film's premise is that our behaviour--which may often seem inexplicable and irrational--is deeply rooted in childhood and also affected by the basic, predictable rules of conditioning.

The first half hour of the film introduces its three main characters--Jean (Roger Pierre) Rene (Gerard Depardieu) and Janine (Nicole Garcia). They have wildly different upbringings and values, and are immeasurably influenced by film stars they watched as children. All three characters have the shadowy figure of a legendary American uncle in their past, whose long-forgotten adventures are shrouded in rumours of disaster and success. Jean is one of the privileged upper classes and brought up with a respect for education and property. He is also a consummate politician who loathes to disturb the status quo. Rene is the son of a peasant farmer, and he's raised in a catholic household, taught to obey, and his father abhors education. Rene's peasant childhood never leaves him. Firmly ensconced in the hierarchy of factory life, he is all too well aware that he is fully expendable. Janine, on the other hand, is raised as a militant communist, attending rallies, and questioning authority figures, and because she's much more used to conflict, she successfully reinvents herself twice throughout the course of the film.

Flashes of the personal histories of these three characters are woven into explanations of behaviorist theory from Professor Henri Laborit. Laborit proffers experiments involving rats (and warning here--they are electrocuted in order for Laborit to make his point), and then he extrapolates his results to humans. He argues that humans are "no less complicated than laboratory rats. What is easy for a rat in a cage is more difficult for man in society." He conducts experiments to show inhibition behaviour, aggression, and defensive violence, and then scenes from the film underscore Laborit's arguments.

The film's first half hour provides the necessary background for the rest of the film, and it may bore some viewers to tears. Simply put, the film explains fundamental elements of human behaviour, and this is achieved so visually, that once watched and absorbed, it will never be forgotten. "Mon Oncle D'Amerique" directed by Alain Resnais is not a particularly easy--or traditional--film, but on the other hand, if you enjoy French film with a strong philosophical or psychological foundation, then there's an excellent chance you'll enjoy "Mon Oncle D'Amerique." It's one of my great favourites. In French with English subtitles--displacedhuman

Who Are We?.......2006-08-11

"Mon Oncle d'Amerique" is a film that explores and tries to explain some very profound things. Who are we? What makes us do the things we do? Is human behavior really predictable?

These questions in the hands of another filmmaker, say Ingmar Bergman or Andrei Tarkovsky, could have been turned into a somber chamber piece that most audiences members would describe as "bleak". But, in the hands of French filmmaker Alain Resnais we have a film that is at times joyous and carefree. The movie blends elements of drama and comedy so effortlessly we sit and wonder why can't more films be like this.

Gerard Depardieu, Nicole Garcia and Roger Pierre star as the three leads characters whose lives will intertwine. As we see of the story of their lives, the soundtrack plays Prof. Henri Laborit (who also appears in the film as himself) as he explains human behavior. We then immediately get the connection. These characters are really pawns that we be used to take on greater dimension. It isn't so much their story we are watching, but instead our story.

Rene Ragueneau (Deparddieu) grew up on a farm, and pretty much had his life planned out for himself. His father wouldn't to give him and his brother the farm after he dies. One day Rene stands firm and tells his father he is not going to follow in his footsteps. Rene has other plans for his future.

Jean Le Gall (Pierre) is running for Prime Minister. He comes from a wealthy family, they even have their own island. Which is where Jean was born and spent most of his childhood. Jean is married with two children, but is having an affair. And he even leaves his family for the other women.

That other woman is Janine Garnier (Garcia) a young actress who grew up as a member of the young Communist club. Her parents never wanted her to become an actress but Janine was determined to follow her dreams.

"Mon Oncle d'Amerique" is not just about human behavior. I also felt the film explored elements of the effect art plays on our lives. Rene loves to watch movies with Jean Gabin. Janine is an actress. Through-out the film Resnais inserts clips from various movies that correspond to the characters emotion. Does life imitate art or art imitate life?

And as for the title, all three characters speak of an uncle from America. But the uncle is never shown. Perhaps there never really was an uncle. America is suppose to represent an idea. A place of freedom. An escape.

The film was written by Laborit and Jean Gruault, who worked several times with other great French directors. Namely Francois Truffaut on such titles as "Jules and Jim", "The Wild Child", and "Two English Girls". He also worked with Godard on one of his best films, "Les Carabiniers".

For those unfamiliar with Alain Resnais, he was at one time a highly experiemental filmmaker and part of the French New Wave with titles "Hiroshima, mon amour" and "Last Year at Marienbed". "Mon Oncle d'Amerique" would find Resnais playing around with story structure again. And many feel it was the best work he did since 1967's "The War Is Over".

In the end "Mon Oncle d'Amerique" is a movie that makes us laugh and think. It never takes the subject matter too serious. The film never becomes a lecture, yet it is thought provoking.

Bottom-line: One of Alain Resnais best films. An ambitious films that doesn't over reach. A thought-provoking, highly entertaining piece of work from a great director.

A wonderfully intelligent movie.......2006-02-07

Fascinating, off-beat piece of filmmaking, brimming with intelligence rarely found in movies. Three storylines are traced and eventually come together, and involve a harried businessman (Gerard Depardieu), a politician/writer (Roger Pierre), and a single-play actress (Nicole Garcia); while these three stories unfold, director Alain Resnais intersplices an on-going lecture by a psychologist expounding on his theories of behavior. These theories have to do with the way people behave toward each other, mainly through learned societal traits, and how those behaviors must be counter-balanced by the more instinctive patterns inside of us, especially when it comes to the dominance of others. Resnais is brilliant in the way he combines the lecture with the unfolding lives of the three protagonists. The only mis-step I felt was the last minute of the movie, which shows burned-out buildings and makes a social statement not congruent with the rest of the picture. But other than that, it's a terrific movie.

The erratic behavior of the human..........2005-08-27

Resnais' penchant for film as cognitive experience first and foremost here comes to the fore, although emotion is certainly on display as well. The three main characters of the film--an actress turned fashion industry stylist (Nicole Garcia), a media executive (Roger Pierre), and a textile middle manager (Gerard Depardieu)--all undergo changes in their lives that intertwine with the theories of human behavior put forth by Professor Henri Laborit, a famed French psychologist and scientist, who plays himself in the film.

Bearing in mind that the film was made in 1980 and that psychological theory has advanced significantly since then--largely founded on one after another breakthroughs in neurobiology/neurophysiology--this is nevertheless an entertaining piece of cinema whose theme is really how we respond to external circumstances--specifically, those that could potentially be very stressful.

For some people, a specific circumstance will be manageable; for others, it will be tremendously stressful. In this film, all three main characters respond to various experiences as very stressful ones, and consequently exhibit behaviors reflecting that: attempted suicide, psychosomatic illness, emotional outbursts. Laborit comments on the reason for this stress, which is primarily the inability to dominate (i.e., control) a situation. Regardless of new discoveries in neurophysiology, his statement is absolutely true, and Resnais fuses Laborit's voiceover discussion with interrelated events in the lives of the three main characters that illustrate the scientist's words.

Once in a while, Resnais gives human characters the heads of white lab rats to wittily capture Laborit's points (not for long; just a few seconds or so). Yet in spite of this visual cleverness, the dexterity of the lead actors embodying the emotional intensity they experience given certain changes in circumstance is truly skillful.

What's also interesting is that, early on, two of the three characters profess their love of past French film stars--in particular, Jean Marais and Jean Gabin. When each of these two (the Nicole Garcia character and the Gerard Depardieu character) are confronted with these changes in circumstance, Resnais cuts to a snippet of a scene from a film starring Marais (for Garcia) or Gabin (for Depardieu) in which the viewer can easily tell the emotion experienced by the older actor. This is, again, a clever cinematic device that adds to the film's richness.

Rated one of the best films of the 1980s by numerous film critics, Mon Oncle D'Amerique is a substantial piece of work that bears a number of viewings. It's easy to see why the critics voted this way.

Highly recommended.

What Film Should Be.......2004-02-07

This picture has compelling drama that ranks with the height of American film in the '40s and '50s and insightful intellectual themes that proves it to be a forerunner of modern works like "Waking Life." Thoroughly engaging, trying and reasonably positive in the end. A masterpiece.

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