Mon Oncle D'Amerique (My American Uncle)

Released 1980
Stars Gerard Depardieu, Nicole Garcia, Roger Pierre, Philippe Laudenbach, Marie Dubois, Pierre Arditi
Directed by Alain Resnais

In 1980 Alain Resnais and screenwriter Jean Gruault once again charted new territory in the world of cinema with Mon Oncle D'Amerique, which weaves the intertwining stories of three characters with documentary footage of real-life biologist, Henri Laborit. It's a fascinating idea for a film, which is essentially a dramatically illustrated documentary. Yet, there isn't a lot of the documentary aspect to the film, and the dramatic stories aren't simple illustrations of Laborit's behavioral theories. The stories stand on their own. Resnais also weaves shots of three French actors from previous films to illustrate his actors' emotions in this film. Confused yet? I know I was in the beginning, but eventually it all gels into a successful film experiment that I haven't seen tried since.

Summary by Bill Alward, September 20, 2002

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