My American Uncle

Not quite up to par visually with his best but thematically the film has Resnais' stamp all over it. The characters become increasingly compelling as the film progresses and the odd mix between psychoanalysis and storytelling meshes really well. It's interesting and thought provoking and quite unique.

It's not as clinical as it sounds, and actually works as both an unusual narrative technique and as a drama. Resnais even manages to inject some humor in the proceedings. Another clever touch is how classic film footage is used to associate Depardieu with Jean Gabin and Garcia with Jean Marais. Certainly not by accident, Pierre's character is named Jean, and the three represent different coping strategies and different levels of consciousness. It's all pretty fascinating and succeeds quite well.

So many films are weak in their psychological concepts, but not this one. It not only gives you a lecture on what must have been state of the art psychology in the 1980, but somehow manages to keep the thing watchable at the same time.

Score based on distant memory.

Still trying to get the hang of the flow. Perhaps too much experimental for its purpose or maybe bleak. Nevertheless it has it's place both as a sociological experiment and in cinematic terms.