Directed by:
Alain ResnaisScreenplay:
Jean GruaultCinematography:
Sacha ViernyComposer:
Arié DzierlatkaCast:
Gérard Depardieu, Nicole Garcia, Pierre Arditi, Marie Dubois, Geneviève Mnich, Catherine Frot, Brigitte Roüan, Héléna Manson, Jean Dasté, Alexandre Rignault (more)Plots(1)
Alain Resnais's MON ONCLE D'AMERIQUE may be the best all-around display of the director's unique narrative and photographic techniques. The film begins with still photographs appearing on the screen as a narrator gives a quick biography of each of the three characters in the movie: Jean, Janine, and Rene. They are presented first in their childhood: a picture of Jean collecting clams, a picture of Janine reciting poetry to her family, and a picture of René in his farm overalls. Then each character introduces him- or herself in young adulthood, and the film rolls as they take turns narrating their own biographies. From there, with frequent interruptions by Professor Henri Laborit, the psychiatrist who takes over as an external narrator, the film assumes the traditional third-person approach to its three subjects, following them as they marry and separate, have affairs, suffer, rejoice, have children, find success, fail miserably, and eventually meet each other. All the while, the psychiatrist-narrator adds fabulously absurd but simultaneously poignant existential explanations for why these characters do what they do. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Gérard Depardieu
France
Best movies:
Jean de Florette (1986)
Two Men in Town (1973)
Shut Up! (2003)
Nicole Garcia
Algeria
Best movies:
Bolero (1981)
Operation Ogre (1979)
The Story of Marie and Julien (2003)
Pierre Arditi
France
Best movies:
The Count of Monte Cristo (1998) (series)
The Horseman on the Roof (1995)
L'Affaire Dreyfus (1994) (series)
Marie Dubois
France
Best movies:
Don't Look Now: We're Being Shot At (1966)
Jules and Jim (1962)
Les Grandes Gueules (1965)
Geneviève Mnich
France
Best movies:
L'Allée du roi (1996) (series)
The French Revolution (1989) (TV movie)
A Sunday in the Country (1984)
Catherine Frot
France
Best movies:
The Dinner Game (1998)
East Wind (1993)
My American Uncle (1980)
Brigitte Roüan
France
Best movies:
Bolero (1981)
Olivier, Olivier (1992)
My American Uncle (1980)
Héléna Manson
Venezuela
Best movies:
Le Glaive et la balance (1963)
A Trap for Cinderella (1965)
Les Misérables (1982)
Jean Dasté
France
Best movies:
The Wild Child (1970)
Z (1969)
Grand Illusion (1937)
Alexandre Rignault
France
Best movies:
Bibi Fricotin (1951)
Don Camillo monsignore ma non troppo (1961)
The Red and the Black (1954)
Catherine Serre
Best movies:
My American Uncle (1980)
Moonraker (1979)
La Situation est grave... mais pas désespérée (1976)
Jean Lescot
France
Best movies:
The Confession (1970)
I... For Icarus (1979)
Docteur Teyran (1980) (TV movie)
Jacques Rispal
France
Best movies:
Two Men in Town (1973)
The Confession (1970)
The Cat (1971)
Laurence Badie
France
Best movies:
Forbidden Games (1952)
Lust for Life (1956)
The Soft Skin (1964)
Roger Pierre
France
Best movies:
My American Uncle (1980)
Love and the Frenchwoman (1960)
Nous irons à Deauville (1962)
Gérard Darrieu
France
Best movies:
Les Misérables (1958)
The Professional (1981)
Witness in the City (1959)
Véronique Silver
France
Best movies:
Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954)
The Woman Next Door (1981)
A Whole Night (1982)
Philippe Laudenbach
France
Best movies:
L'Affaire Salengro (2009) (TV movie)
A.L.F. (Animal Liberation Front) (2012)
Confidentially Yours (1983)
Serge Feuillard
Best movies:
L'Impure (1991) (TV movie)
Tales of the Night (2011)
My American Uncle (1980)
Damien Boisseau
Best movies:
The Summit of the Gods (2021)
My American Uncle (1980)
Mune: Guardian of the Moon (2015)