This documentary from Nicolas Philibert (To Be and To Have) opens in close-up of a pair of orangutan eyes. They belong, we learn, to Nénette, who's 40 (old for an orangutan) and lives in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. The audio portion of Philibert's film consists of unilluminating remarks ("Which one is Nénette?") by the zoo's visitors and more helpful commentary by the primates' keepers, who nonetheless tend to wind up talking about themselves. (We do learn that Nénette has survived all her mates and borne four children, and that she doesn't take to every keeper.) Meanwhile, Nénette and the other orangutans (who include her son Tübo) swing from ropes, play with big plastic tubs, drink bottles of tea, and gaze inscrutably at the camera, as if waiting for us to figure out what they already know. Nénette has the last "word," as she pours tea into her yogurt carton in order to get every last bit of yogurt out.
