Through three off-kilter tales which border on the outright surreal, director
Pierre Creton casts a mischievous eye over the subtle relationship between
human beings and animals. Madeleine, a self-sufficient farmer in her
late seventies, is one day visited by a wild boar that is badly in need of
love and attention. Christening the animal Toto, the old woman tends
to his needs and the two soon become inseparable. The boar's noisy
presence on the farm prompts Madeleine's intolerant neighbours to call in
the authorities, but the old woman resists their determined attempts to rob
her of her treasured new companion.
Then there is the case of Vincent, who, during an expedition to India, is
surprised to find wild monkeys living as freely as humans. This bizarre
encounter causes him to see his life from a completely new perspective.
Most fantastic of all is the tale of Joseph, a farmer who rears a large number
of cats. Because of acute breathing difficulties, he cannot get to
sleep without the aid of a special machine. The sound made by this
strange apparatus causes Joseph to experience a deeply disturbing dream in
which his precious cats begin multiplying at a terrifying rate...
The cinema of Japan is noteworthy for its purity, subtlety and visual impact. The films of Ozu, Mizoguchi and Kurosawa are sublime masterpieces of film poetry.
Since the 1920s, Hollywood has dominated the film industry, but that doesn't mean American cinema is all bad - America has produced so many great films that you could never watch them all in one lifetime.