Nénette

Day in, day out, Nénette maintains an aura of shaggy calm. Her wise eyes gaze unperturbed through the glass of her cage at viewers sage and silly, each of whom has a different pronouncement about her state of mind. Nénette is an orangutan who has lived at a zoo in Paris for 37 of her 40 years. She doesn't seem to long for the wild Borneo of her youth. Or does she? She has borne several children and outlived several mates. She watches impassively as youngsters hang upside down and push each other over. She could be said to enjoy her daily yogurt and tea. Her keepers offer opinions regarding her emotions, but Nénette will neither confirm nor deny. NÉNETTE provides an observation, at a leisurely pace, of how we project our human impressions onto animals in captivity. (In French with subtitles) –B.B.