Alain Resnais tells three interconnected stories interspersed with an occasional narration by psychologist/philosopher/physician Henri Laborit (best known for discovering chlorpromazine and revolutionizing the use of drugs in psychiatric treatment) describing his theories of human behavior. The stories turn out to ... illustrate/demonstrate/confirm (???) ... his views.
Knowing too much about the subject matter of a movie can really ruin it. I think the stories Resnais chooses to tell here are entertaining, but I doubt they completely stand alone without their connection to Laborit. I was deliberately vague above about what that connection is supposed to be because quite frankly I don't understand what Resnais thinks he's doing.
I really do think that Resnais thinks that only by viewing these stories through the Laborit lens (which is a rather sophisticated version of behaviorism that uses biology to fill in the blanks in cruder forms) do we really understand what we're seeing, This simply isn't true. Like most narratives, the stories are so high level that any number of incompatible psychological theories could be imposed on them and be equally explanatory.
I think it's really a kind of silly film.
Knowing too much about the subject matter of a movie can really ruin it. I think the stories Resnais chooses to tell here are entertaining, but I doubt they completely stand alone without their connection to Laborit. I was deliberately vague above about what that connection is supposed to be because quite frankly I don't understand what Resnais thinks he's doing.
I really do think that Resnais thinks that only by viewing these stories through the Laborit lens (which is a rather sophisticated version of behaviorism that uses biology to fill in the blanks in cruder forms) do we really understand what we're seeing, This simply isn't true. Like most narratives, the stories are so high level that any number of incompatible psychological theories could be imposed on them and be equally explanatory.
I think it's really a kind of silly film.