Mon oncle d’Amérique (1980)

Mon oncle d’Amérique is a French film first released in 1980, directed by Alain Resnais.  The film stars Gérard Depardieu, Nicole Garcia, Roger Pierre, Nelly Borgeaud and Pierre Arditi.  It has also been released under the title: My American Uncle.  Our overall rating for this film is: very good.


An eminent biologist, Henri Laborit, illustrates how behavioural theories about survival and social development pertaining to animals can be applied to human beings. He does this by making reference to the lives of three people: Jean, an ambitious writer and politician, Janine, an aspiring actress, and René, a country boy who ends up managing a textile factory.  All three characters are placed in threatening, life-changing situations which, the professor claims, vindicates his theories…

What could easily have been a conventional drama about the pressures of modern living is magnificently transformed into a multi-layered film which is both compelling and entertaining, despite its unusual narrative structure.   Although less distinctive than some of Resnais’ earlier films, it illustrates the director’s capacity to make great cinema that is provocative and innovative without alienating its potential audience.  Not only does Resnais have something new to say, he actually manages to persuade us to listen to him, a knack that many other avant-garde directors lack.

The films switches between a documentary-style discussion of animal behaviour and a highly charged emotional drama with almost the same unsettling effect as someone switching between two television channels.  The two styles differ so markedly that they genuinely complement each other and, remarkably, the drama appears that much more poignant and comic.  The two strands to the narrative cross in a number of ways, including some surreal intermediate scenes where human beings actually become the laboratory white mice they are being compared with.

The human drama part of the film is itself split into three strands, which ultimately converge.  This fragmentation of the narrative ought to be a distraction but it works to great effect, enabling Resnais to explore one of his favourite themes, the interaction of time, place and memory.

© James Travers 2001

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