One of Raul Ruiz's more penetrable Chinese boxes, this poker-faced 1997 meta-mysteryas much shaggy-dog story as intellectual prankis based on the true, turn-of-the-century story of a psychoanalyst who detected homicidal tendencies in her young nephew and was eventually murdered by him. Catherine Deneuve plays the shrink (in flashback) and also the lawyer who defends the teenage killer (Melvil Poupaud). A cursory investigation implicates the Franco-Belgian Psychoanalytic Society (!), a legion of kooks (led by a spirited Michel Piccoli) whose therapy sessions constitute the ritual stagings of elaborate tableaux vivant. With typical offhandedness, Genealogies combines Wellesian angles, Lacanian theories, and Borgesian gold dust. As the latticework of overlapping fictions gets more complicated, non sequiturs, word games, and surrealist goofs pile upmost amusingly an ethnopsychologist who spouts nonsense literary analogies ("Paul Auster without New York," he muses, inspecting the decor of a law office). No extras.
Join My Voice Nation for free stuff, film info & more!
Find everything you're looking for in your city
Find the best happy hour deals in your city
Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%
Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city
