A friend who was very influenced by Derrida asked me if I wanted to come along and see the film. I didn't know who he was and was very enthusiastic to see this film. I read the 3 preceding reviews here at the IMDB after seeing the film and I'll say that the gross mediocrity of this film is summed up with perfection by those reviewers. It was glaringly obvious that the producers were completely unprepared, had absolutely no agenda, and I could not figure out what they hoped to accomplish with this film. Was it to praise or mock Derrida? It was a 90 minute attempt to be stylish with no substance at all. I had no idea what the film was trying to accomplish except dropping in a 85 minute take of film with words spoken at certain parts in an attempt to show style (and a few other obvious superficial attempts at style.)<br /><br />Not once was there a discussion or revelation as to what made Derrida such a legend (at least so I'm told), little if anything about is family life (except at in the last third of the film), and the clips that were edited in made him appear like an incorrigible Frenchman with a sense of humor, which he may be but I got the picture very early on in the film. There is an attempt to do a chronological bio by taking his books (I presume) and reading a passage from them in an asympathetic, new age monotone and attempting to show some brilliant connection between the quote and the scene in the film. But there really was no order and the scenes shown, largely, go unexplained. Sometimes they are a superficial illustration in Derrida's life of the simple quote. Nothing worthwhile, just style.<br /><br />The questions asked to Derrida were general, inane questions with not a single followup. When Derrida answers (he's frequently annoyed answering such general stuff) there is an obvious follow up question each time that is NEVER asked. The best one is when Derrida rambles about how he'd love to know more about philosopers' personal lives because its so strange that they never speak about them. Funny, because this film doesn't really say much at all about Derrida's personal life and Derrida himself admits several times he has a hard time talking about it at all. Refused to, actually. Does the interviewer ever ask why he is so intensely secretive about many things, like other philosophers? NO!!!! Instead we get several clips of what a sample lecture is like with a student asking a very simple question but making it sound as obtuse, complicated, and deep as possible. Ugghh.<br /><br />How stylish was this movie? The first 15 minutes are spent with a drive through Paris with constant cuts of different news clips saying that Derrida is a modern genius, thinker, etc. etc. and father of deconstructionism. Do we ever find out why? No.<br /><br />The camera wobbled throughout the entire film. Things were out of focus at times. I was so surprised that out of all the hours shot (Derrida even talks about the camera crew following him for 2 weeks) they chose this stuff to put in.<br /><br />Unfortunately I know very little more now about Derrida than I did when I came in. My friend enjoyed the opportunity to actually see the man and what he was like on the screen but felt the same as I did. It was as though there was a camera crew commissioned to shoot some footage and then it was thrown together in a hurry. Disappointing. Missed opportunities. I really went into this film wanting to like it and feel like someone fleeced me of $10 and dropped me off a home film that has never been edited. And I'm an optimist!!!!