CRITICAL NOTE - WILD HERBS Alain Resnais

Human relationships are always conditioned by ideology, history, customs and vices that people have. The French film, Les Herbes Folles (The Wild Herbs, 2009) by Alain Resnais, talks about it. Perhaps this work is the product of the director's reflections at 88 years old, his long experience could lead him to talk about stories that, although may seem simple, invite us to question our daily life and the way we relate to each other.

George Palet, main character in the story, is a somewhat a disturbed one, with impulsive behavior, invasive thoughts and a misogynist ideology. The the plot hints that may have a criminal record, which may have to do with his abusive attitude towards women. At different times we learn about his immoderate thoughts and that he has some intentions to control himself. However, this self-control proves that his ideology has not changed, and that he only control’s himself so he won’t be punished.

When George Palet finds Marguerite Muir's wallet, by reviewing the documents in the wallet he put’s together stories about this woman and imagines possible future events with her; This shows us his invasive and imperative personality towards women. Without ever knowing her, he fantasizes, talks and wonders what to do with Marguerite, from one moment to the next she becomes the center of his thoughts. Contacting her on the phone, becomes the fact tha gives him a "valid" reason to raise demands and even gets to cause changes in his mood.

On the other hand, Marguerite is a character with a somewhat submissive and vulnerable personality. She thinks that she has "horrible" feet, or strange feet in comparison with the rest of the people, which leads her to buy shoes, even when she doesn’t need them. When she is harassed by George, Marguerite puts up with quite a lot of it; the fact that George broke his tires is not enough reason to take legal action, she just tries to drive him away by asking the police to talk calmly with him. She reaches her goal and George stops pursuing her, but now she is the one who feels the need of his presence and, contradictorily, goes out to look for him. This reveals Marguerite's masochistic characteristics, her relationships with men are shown as submissive relationships. In addition, this character questions just a few times George's imperative attitudes, and the fact that she takes it all naturally tells us a lot about her misogynistic education, while she assumes the role of oppressed. <the director makes a a strong criticism to the patriarchal culture in which women are trained to reproduce their own oppression, reaching the point of needing to feel this way.

An important issue to analyze is the fact that all the main characters of the film revolve around George, he is the center of there actions and even of there thoughts. These main characters are all women, and it is interesting to reflect on their complicit and pleasing attitudes towards George. This seems to be one of the implicit messages that Alain Resnais gives to make us reflect. Androcentrism is so positioned in patriarchal societies that it is difficult to see it, however when men have conflicting behaviors such as the protagonist of The Wild Herbs, we began to question this type of things.

Alain Resnais tells us a seemingly simple story, an every day story that has implicit nothing less than the way in which we relate. His work becomes a constant mirror to find our own tainted behaviors. By giving the film a tragic end, as is the crash of the plane where some of the main characters travel, and the subsequent scene in which a cemetery is shown to us, it is perhaps the strongest message the author gives us, to invite us to reflect.