Recalling Billy Corgan's (of Smashing Pumpkins fame) wailing chorus to "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" ("despite all my rage/I am still just a rat in a cage"), director Alain Resnais' award-winning 1980 film interweaves behavioral psychologist Henri Laborit's theories (often illustrated with lab footage of animals) with the fictional tales of three characters whose paths cross mid-life: René (Gérard Depardieu), Janine (Nicole Garcia) and Jean (Roger-Pierre). Alternately mesmerizing and manipulative, the film is at its best when it forces us to look past the human animal's civilized veneer to see the basic instincts simmering beneath the surface. Sporting decent image and sound qualities, the DVD is otherwise pretty much featureless. Recommended. (R. Pitman)
Mon Oncle D'Amerique
New Yorker, 123 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, $29.95 Vol. 16, Issue 2
Mon Oncle D'Amerique
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