Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l’an 2000 (1976) - film review

An unemployed labourer, Mathieu, gets a job on a small farm run by Marcel and his wife Marguerite.  His wife Mathilde is pregnant, and they intend to call the new-born baby Jonas.  They become friends with a disillusion political activist, Max, and a history teacher, Marco, who uses the most bizarre teaching methods.  Marco befriends Marie, a supermarket cashier, who steals from her shop to help out an old friend.  Meanwhile Max is seduced by the passionate Madeleine, who works for he firm that intends to exploit farmers like Marcel.

The events on May 1968 were but a dim echo by 1976, by some clung to the ideals which this period threw up.  This film is a fascinating study of eight such individuals who try to find an alternative to the trashy corrupt materialistic world.  Although their struggle is largely in vain, they each seem to gain from their attempts to follow an alternative life style and the film’s theme is as relevant today as it was in 1976.

When it was released, Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l’an 2000 as the most successful Swiss film ever made, with over two million viewers world wide.  It is certainly one of Alain Tanner’s most memorable films and is has strong similarities with the works of another well-known Swiss director, Jean-Luc Godard.  Although the message is similar, with typically Godardesque Maoist references (is it a coincidence that the eight principle characters each has a name starting Ma…?), Tanner’s style is much less aggressive than Godard’s.  As a result, his film is more accessible, focusing more on the human side of the equation than the underlying politics.

Jonas himself only gets to appear right at the end of the film.  This provided Tanner with the incentive to make a sequel for the year 2000, Jonas et Lila, à demain , in which he tackles similar themes.

© James Travers 2000

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