About

Nénette is a captivating study of an enigmatic animal and our relationship to her by legendary French documentarian Nicolas Philibert. Born in the jungles of Borneo, Nenette is a 40-year-old orangutan and the oldest inhabitant at the Managerie du Jardin des Plantes Zoo in Paris. What we see is Nénette, going about her daily business; what we hear are the voices of the many visitors who pass comment on her every day, and reveal more about themselves than they actually think.

'Behind the glass, Nénette is a mirror. A screen for our projections. We attribute all kinds of feelings, intentions and even thoughts to her. In talking about her, we talk about ourselves. In looking at her, we include ourselves in the picture…This is a film on the gaze, on representation. A metaphor for the cinema, in particular for the documentary, as capturing and as capture; after all, filming others is always a way of imprisoning them, of enclosing them in a frame, of freezing them in space and time.' Nicolas Philibert