Besides the fine foreign and independent films that have been cited so far on this thread, you might consider setting them in contrast with a Hollywood treatment of a similar quest (or am I starting to mix this up with the "intellectual quest" thread?)-- Well, let me go two for one: Intellectual Quest--think of Hollywood biopics of scientists and the like: THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR or MADAME CURIE, for example. Existential?--Consider the isolated characters of film noir, especially those on the edge of desperation: OUT OF THE PAST, DETOUR, and others. Then, of course, there's always Visconti's adaptation of THE STRANGER! Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN) ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]