"Nenette" is a sultry, 40-year-old redhead, certainly worthy of a movie named after her.
She's an orangutan, the longest-living resident of Paris' Jardin des Plantes, or Zoo, and the subject of a fascinating documentary from director Nicolas Philibert, which opens here today.
Philibert, working with cinematographer Katell Djian and editor Lea Masson, skips the lecture part. We hear visitors talk about her; everyone has something to say — a question, a comment, an "I wonder. . . ." Nenette has lived under observation since 1972. She has outlived three husbands, mothered four children, silently has observed millions more. She lives with one of her sons, takes a daily contraceptive pill. She doesn't get around the way she once did, a victim of age or arthritis, or both.
Watching her watching us is fascinating. She does not appear to be unhappy, but there's an occasional far-away look in her eye. A fine, non-judgmental movie.
Nenette opens today at the Plaza Frontenac
—Joe