La question humaine (2007)

A psychologist discovers troubling links between Nazism and modern-day big business.

Director:

Nicolas Klotz

Writers:

François Emmanuel (story), Elisabeth Perceval

Stars:

Mathieu Amalric, Michael Lonsdale, Edith Scob

6 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Mathieu Amalric	...	Simon
Michael Lonsdale	...	Mathias Jüst
Edith Scob	...	Lucy Jüst
Lou Castel	...	Arie Neumann
Jean-Pierre Kalfon	...	Karl Rose
Valérie Dréville	...	Lynn Sanderson
Laetitia Spigarelli	...	Louisa
Delphine Chuillot	...	Isabelle
Nicolas Maury	...	Tavera
Rémy Carpentier	...	Jacques Paolini
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Abtmalt
Solène Agobert
Louis Aguettant	...	Le chanteur de fado
Nassim Amaouche
Marie-Reine Beaumesnil

Storyline

Paris today. Simon works as psychologist in human resources department of petrochemical corporation. When Management gets him to investigate one of the factory's executives, Simon'perception goes disturbingly chaotic and cloudy. The experience affects his body, his mind, his personal life and his sensibility. The calm assurance that made him such a rigorous technician starts to falter.

---

Plot Keywords:

psychologist | nazism | corporation | illegal immigration | voice over narration | 

---

Genres:

Drama | History | Music | War

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

12 September 2007 (France)

Also Known As:

The Human Question

Filming Locations:

Le Mans, Sarthe, France

Box Office

Budget:

€600,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,309, 16 March 2008, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$5,309, 16 March 2008

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sophie Dulac Productions, Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC), CinéCinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

143 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Les amants cinéma (2008)

User Reviews

Difficult but worth it

La question humaine is a difficult movie, not entertaining, but very rewarding. It gets slowly under your skin and makes you reflect about who you are, who we are, what our parents, have transmitted us generation after generation. Basically, it is a movie about transmission, about languages, about words that echo across time.

That's why I believe it is simplistic to say that Nicolas Klotz and scenarist Elizabeth Perceval are comparing the way companies are managed today to the way the shoah was "managed". They are much more subtle than that. What Elizabeth says in the interview which accompanies the DVD is something close to this: "When Simon is reading the technical report written during the war by Theodor Jüst, he is touched by the words used, the structure of the sentences, their cold, technical tones, of which he finds echoes in his own industrial psychologist language." In a similar vein, on wikipedia, you can find the following quote by Nicolas, in French, which says something similar. As Nicolas himself says, there is something hazy, "gazeux" about the film, about these "résurgences" from the past. Which, again, does not mean that industrial companies like SC Farb (reference the product used in gas chambers) are modern-day gas chambers...

There are many beautiful, touching, although painful moments in this movie. I think in particular of Lynn's account (Valerie Dreville) of Matthias Jüst, discovering when he was young the atrocities committed by his father. She says she was in love with the boy he once was. Then he had the courage to confront his father. As an older, powerful man, CEO of a large business unit, he seemed to have lost that kind courage.