One night at film school, a classmate confessed to me that they didn’t like foreign films because they hated reading subtitles. When I suggested they should seek out the English dub versions, they were incensed since they felt using other actors’ voices was cinematic blasphemy. “That’s not what the director intended!” they declared. I backed away from the conversation since there was nothing I could say to solve their paradox. Turns out there was the perfect film that suited their needs and it came out in 1973. Themroc by French director Claude Faraldo (Trade Secrets) isn’t a silent movie. The French cast grunts, whistles and speaks gibberish that sounds like actual French. If you always fear the subtitles aren’t giving you the true dialogue, you’re in for a treat.
Things aren’t going so great for Themroc (The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie & Weak Spot‘s Michel Piccoli). He’s stuck in a cramped apartment in Paris with his elderly mother (Sweet Inquest on Violence‘s Jeanne Herviale) and his younger sister (Claire’s Knee‘s Béatrice Romand). He has a job as part of the painting crew at a corporation where the executives really look down on him. He rebels against the company and rearranges the employee locker room before he is forced off the property. When he misses his subway train, he chases after it in the Metro tunnels. When he emerges into the sunlight, he is ready to be an urban caveman. This includes turning his apartment into a cave with cement and random building materials. The neighbors aren’t thrilled about the noise and when he pursues an open floor plan to increase the sunlight in the place. He gives up on stairs and tosses down a rope ladder out the front of the space. He is extremely primitive in his new outlook on life. This includes getting way too intimate with his sister. But curious people see the benefits of his new lifestyle. When the cops come to put a stop to his antics (he is destroying property), the neighbors join not only his protest, but embrace the caveman life with him.
Claude Faraldo deserves all the praise for making a political film about class warfare that contains no giant speech from any of the characters. He smartly has gives the groups their own language of sorts. Themroc and his working class associates only speak in short grunts. The rich executives spout the kind of fake French that a seventh graders would roll of the tongue to avoid admitting they hadn’t studied for an oral pop test. The cops have their own tone as they attempt to smash the uprising. The grunts and gibberish cut to the heart of the struggle accompanied by the imagery on the screen.
A lot of why this undefined verbal technique works is the performance by Michel Piccoli. Here’s a guy who plays sophisticated characters in other movies going completely raw as Themroc. When he embraces the Urban Caveman, we don’t question what’s he really doing. He is purely doing. The same can be said for the actors who play the people in his building who also embrace the Urban Caveman life as the cops arrive. The neighbors include the comic Coluche (Tchao Pantin) and Miou-Miou (Going Places & Memoirs of a French Whore). They also pull off the rebellion without saying proper words.
Themroc is brilliant that it can skip real dialogue and still be so engrossing. We don’t have the usual engagement that comes from characters talking. We don’t have to agree with what they’re saying or doubt their sincerity. You sense they are communicating through the grunts and gibberish, but what they mean is all in their attitudes and actions. The film doesn’t get boring as the characters get deeper and deeper into their urban caveman lives. The comedy comes out of the conflict even in the most shocking of situations. This is a movie that reminds me what they always taught us at film school: Film is a visual medium. If you turn off the sound, the audience should still get a sense of what’s happening. Themroc nails that concept. Why this wasn’t shown to us or even mentioned in international cinema classes makes me feel ripped off. I could have shown this to my classmate that night. Although they would have whined that they didn’t want to see a movie that required them to always watch the screen to know what’s happening. Themroc is a cinematic rebellion that’s worth your full visual attention.
The Video is 1.66:1 anamorphic. The transfer is a 4K Restoration from the original negative by StudioCanal. You’ll get to see all the details of modern urban caveman living. The Audio is LPCM 2.0 mono that’s not in legitimate French. The subtitles are great since it’s mostly “Policeman Speaks Gibberish” and other noises cast members make.
Interview with critic David Thompson (23:19) has him explain how the film was received. We get a brief biography of director Claude Faraldo. He senses his time as a laborer informed Themroc. Faraldo referred to the film as the story of a working man who has had enough. The film gets tied into the Situationist International (read Greil Marcus’ Lipstick Traces). He talks about the freeform nature of the film that doesn’t lose the audience. The poster for Themroc got it in trouble in England for the ad. Mary Whitehouse protested the film when it aired on Channel 4.
Interview with actor Michel Piccoli and director Claude Faraldo (17:30) is an archival video special from 1973. It starts with people talking about their reaction to the film after a screening. It wasn’t universally beloved. Star and director are gathered around by people to discuss the film. There is talk about the lack of real dialogue. Michel talks about the nature of dialogue and how this approach kept it raw. It’s interesting how the interaction with the audience.
Interview with Manuela Lazic (23:26) is about the history of Michel Piccoli. He grew up the child of two music teachers. He chose to become an actor because he screwed up a school exam. He wanted to do more as an actor than just be a tool of the director. He enjoyed playing confident characters. She talks of his long career in French cinema.
Gallery has the posters, newspaper ad from a screening at a theater in Piccadilly Circus and the ad that got protested.
Limited edition booklet features an essay on the film by Alison Smith, author of French Cinema in the 1970s The echoes of May
Radiance Films presents Themrock: Limited Edition. Directed by Claude Faraldo. Screenplay by Claude Faraldo. Starring Michel Piccoli, Béatrice Romand, Marilù Tolo, Francesca Romana Coluzzi, Jeanne Herviale, Patrick Dewaere, Coluche & Miou-Miou. Running Time: 109 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: May 20, 2025.
