Nénette – review

It's impossible to watch Nicolas Philibert's new film without a Darwinian frisson of anxiety, and an animal-liberationist spasm of rage. Nénette is a 40-year-old female orangutan in a Parisian zoo: she has been kept here almost all her life. Philibert's camera is trained solely on her, and some other ape companions – humans are not shown, but we hear the chattering voices of zoo visitors and the thoughtful voices of various naturalists and experts. Our gaze is kept on Nénette's face. She is watching us, while we are watching her. Nénette looks clinically depressed. As Philibert shows us a close-up of her eyes, full of sadness and pain, it seems just too obvious to say that Nénette seems human. Perhaps it is that we are ape-like. She looks a lot like those spoof pictures showing the Mona Lisa as a monkey. As if this story did not have enough pathos, Philibert finally reveals an extraordinary fact about the medical precautions being taken with regard to what can only be described as Nénette's domestic situation. This showstopping disclosure completes the nightmare.