Themroc (1973)
Directed by Claude Faraldo

Film Review

In this alternately disturbing and humorous film, controversial director Claude Faraldo paints a bleak picture suggesting that a reversion to the Stone Age may be preferable to living the stale sanitised existence which modern society offers.  It is clearly a product of its time. The late 1960s and early 1970s was a period of great social upheaval in France, with respect for the traditional symbols of authority draining away in the midst of a succession of high profile judicial-political scandals, ecological disasters and burgeoining youth culture. This festering sense of rebellion and rejection of convention is felt in several French films of this era - notably Jean-Luc Godard's Week End (1967) and just about every film made by Jean Yanne (Moi y'en a vouloir des sous especially) - but it screams most loudly in the off-kilter fantasy that is Themroc.

With no intelligible dialogue (all of the characters speak in either a non-recognisable corruption of French or Neanderthal grunts), the film relies entirely on its visuals for impact.  Although there is a lot of tedious repetition, there are also some very memorable scenes, such as Themroc's frustrated attempts to catch a train and the graphic barbecue of a policeman.  Also notable is the scene where Themroc knocks a hole in his apartment wall and starts throwing all of his mod cons out into the street.

One of the most interesting aspects of the film is its cast, which includes Michel Piccoli, an established and highly thought of actor, alongside an ensemble of virtual unknowns who would come to prominence over the coming decade. The latter include Coluche, Miou-Miou and Patrick Dewaere, who had first met through Romain Bouteille's troupe at the Café de la Gare. The next year, Dewaere would be set on the road to stardom though his role in Bertrand Blier's Les Valseuses (1974), and Colouche would become a comedy phenomenon and future French presidential candidate. Themroc evokes the period in which it was made and is an enjoyably unhinged comedy, although it can't help looking like a Goodies or Monty Python sketch that got a little too carried away with itself.

Film Synopsis

Themroc is a typical blue-collar worker working for a typical medium-sized factory.  When he is caught spying on his boss he is reprimanded, and he instantly rebels.  He throws off the yoke of civilisation and immediately reverts to stone age behaviour.  When he returns home, he ravishes his sister and starts to create an urban cave out of his apartment.  Then the police arrive…