Mon oncle d'Amérique (1980)

Third viewing; first viewing was on June 15, 1987, and second one on May 1, 1989.

English title: My American Uncle.

Three characters whose lives cross paths at some points, and whose actions provide an illustration for a behavioral scientist's theories.

This has all the airs of a pretentious movie. If one takes seriously its pretention of exemplifying the expounded theories, it fails. The fictional sections are either flimsily related  to the theoretical narration, or -- and that is perhaps even worse -- are very trivial depictions. The non-fictional exposition is basically correct, at least from what I read in the science press; the exception to that is the ascribing of psychological causes for some diseases such as cancer and cardiac diseases. This is just false, according to recent scientific research; immunity is apparently influenced by a person's mood, but not to the extent which the scientist in the film implies. I couldn't help construing this film as something quite different from what its appearances showed. Its overall structure and the abundance of ridiculous details make the case that this is just a joint parody of the inanity of soap operas and of the sort of sacrality which is ascribed to scientists by laypersons. The film's ending reveals as a central theme the will to change the world by acting on people's minds; it is a recurrent theme in the "mad scientist" genre, and very much in evidence in the mindset dating from the 60s to the present day. Viewed from that angle, the film is not totally negligible, although it might be considered, judging from its length, as a joke on its audience as well.

Rating: 40 (down from 49)