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Reviews
En quête de sens (2015)
A beautiful & naive quest for meaning in life - without real answers
I had the pleasure of watching 'En quête de sens': a film about the quest for meaning in life. Two affable French post-adolescents travel in India and Latin America and try to address the question which has enticed philosophers for millenia: Mom, why do we live? The film is certainly worth your time but rather for the splendid images and well-chosen soundtrack than for the substantive answers it would provide: the film is a typical expression of the pantheistic romantic naturalism a part of post-modern Western society, including in France, is experiencing today. Without giving clear answers, the film vacillates between a plea for increased political ecology, a tribute to exoticism, a call for negative growth (décroissance) and de-digitalization, an attack against 'big corporations', and the nostalgia for ancient or traditional ways of living. The two film makers of this documentary are quite conscious about their hesitations and contradictions - and with the numerous planes they take and modern technology they use for making the film, actually have no choice but to be self-critical. Their naivety is charming, and at times convincing. The film is refreshing and does allow you to 'put things in perspective' without however detailing the standpoint from which they are analyzing the world. It is honest and aims at being profound without reaching real depth - for which the sound and image, luckily, amply compensate. The greatest merit of this documentary is probably that it pushes us to ask or reformulate that one question that really matters in life. And that is no small achievement.
En quête de sens (2015)
A beautiful & naive quest for meaning in life - without real answers
I had the pleasure of watching 'En quête de sens': a film about the quest for meaning in life. Two affable French post-adolescents travel in India and Latin America and try to address the question which has enticed philosophers for millenia: Mom, why do we live? The film is certainly worth your time but rather for the splendid images and well-chosen soundtrack than for the substantive answers it would provide: the film is a typical expression of the pantheistic romantic naturalism a part of post-modern Western society, including in France, is experiencing today. Without giving clear answers, the film vacillates between a plea for increased political ecology, a tribute to exoticism, a call for negative growth (décroissance) and de-digitalization, an attack against 'big corporations', and the nostalgia for ancient or traditional ways of living. The two film makers of this documentary are quite conscious about their hesitations and contradictions - and with the numerous planes they take and modern technology they use for making the film, actually have no choice but to be self-critical. Their naivety is charming, and at times convincing. The film is refreshing and does allow you to 'put things in perspective' without however detailing the standpoint from which they are analyzing the world. It is honest and aims at being profound without reaching real depth - for which the sound and image, luckily, amply compensate. The greatest merit of this documentary is probably that it pushes us to ask or reformulate that one question that really matters in life. And that is no small achievement.