Wondering what you'll do when you retire? You could learn a lot from Nénette, the star of a movie of the same name (dir. Nicolas Philibert), a forty-year-old female organgutan who lives in a zoo in Paris. In real life you'll never get as close to Nénette or any other orangutan, as you do in this movie, close enough to see and almost feel her dry, wrinkle-lined skin and to look into her deep dark eyes. Nénette has lived at the zoo for 35 years, has undergone one major surgery, and has outlived the average orangutan life-expectancy by five years. All her physical needs are taken care of and it's difficult to know what her emotional needs are because orangutans express nothing with their faces. The audio track includes the voices of zoo visitors (some of whom visit Nénette on a regular basis), comments from her assistant caregiver (who says Nénette took 6 years to warm up to her) and reflections from Gerard, the man who has looked after her since she arrived at the zoo. From this slow-moving meditation on life behind glass we learn about orangutans and about zoo visitors, but it is Gerard's comments about Nénette's ability to do absolutely nothing, even while everyone is watching, that tie the movie together and get one thinking about what captivity can mean. Not the most exciting movie around but one that will get you thinking.
SCREENINGS:
- Mon, Oct 4th 9:15pm | Empire Granville 7 Th 2
- Wed, Oct 6th 2:45pm | Empire Granville 7 Th 4
Here's the trailer (although the movie has English subtitles)
