THE INDIANS ARE STILL FAR AWAY

Les indiens sont encore loin

Director Patricia Moraz / 1977 / Switzerland/France

Patricia Moraz' film looks at the last seven days in the life of a young high school student, Jenny Kern, in Lausanne. She is played by French actress Isabelle Huppert, who starred in The Lacemaker.

In this film she plays a gentle, introspective creature, who lives with her kindly grandmother, with whom she seems to have little contact. Her friend, Lise, introduces her to a group of young people who vigourously reject the society they live in. She goes to cafes with them, where they discuss the aftermath of the 1968 student revolt, and the place of women in politics.

Jenny listens, but says little herself. She looks at pictures of an Amazon tribe, and occasionally remarks that she would like to live with Indians. Sequences about the lives of the Nambikwara Indians are woven into the film, scenes that seem to point to a parallel between the destruction of the tribe by 'underdevelopment' and the plight of today's young people.

As the days draw on, Jenny becomes even more withdrawn, and at the end of the week, she walks, alone, into the snowy forest.

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