Institute History
Description
The entomologist Arturo Fabre, researchers at the Institute of Biology, has been married for the past eight years to Irene Gorenko, a Russian actress whom he met in London while studying for his Master's degree. She has found no difficulty in adapting to Mexico, where she works in theater as an actress. One day, Irene receives a letter written in Russian along with a photograph. She doesn't give much importance to the photograph and says that it's an old snapshot taken during a play. Nevertheless, this photograph has such a disturbing effect on Fabre that it upsets his whole existence to the point of obsessing him. This is where our film begins.
While Irene is rehearsing for a play that will soon be opening, Fabre receives a visit from a strange and surprising individual who says he is Irene's second husband and wants to warn him that she is in some sort of danger. He also reveals a series of details about Irene's life which Fabre ignored. Among these revelations. he says that Irene has an aunt who lives in downtown Mexico City. This sort of information changes Fabre's image of Irene and makes her seem a completely different person from the one he thought he knew. "I don't know who I'm living with" becomes the essence of Fabre's obsession.
Irene, who remains ignorant of Miklos' visit, talks with her friend Svetlana, another Russian who also works at the theater as a cellist, and tells her that she is worried about a change in Fabre·s behavior which she doesn't understand and of which he doesn't talk about. However, Fabre continually seeks out his trusted friend Dr. Mazur to tell him about his doubts. This enables us to be present at some of Mazur's lectures to his students and to listen to the famous entomologist's discussions on the nature of insects and the similarity between these and human beings.
Fabre, who participates in group therapy sessions, begins to bore his fellow patients with his obsessions and jealousy, but insists on analyzing his case. He also talks about his problems with his mother, who lives at a nursing home and suffers from Alzheimer's disease.
Thus the story reaches the first half of the film, with Fabre as victim of a reality which he is unable to understand. From this point on the film takes a complete turn. Fabre now decides to act. He embarks himself on a frantic search for Irene· s aunt. The riotous and baroque downtown section of Mexico City contrasts strongly with the entomologist's clean and geometrical laboratory. Aunt Ludmilo lives in an old and labyrinthine building where she also has her workshop dedicated to the design, manufacture and export of fantasy costumes to the United States. Following Hammett's tips on how to follow people without being discovered by these, he follows Victor Miklos for hours. The pursued becomes then the pursuer, and the true story begins to appear.
In a dramatic end, with a dead man and a man who is struggling between life and death, this comedy about men, women and insects rushes to its conclusion.