ABSTRACT
The film La Question Humaine/Heartbeat Detector (2007) foregrounds ‘language games’3 in its depiction of SC Farb, a fictional Parisian subsidiary of a German parent company, in which a series of redundancies have just taken place. The company psychologist engaged in profiling the staff to maximise efficiency is entrusted with the task of monitoring the French CEO, and, as he uncovers the company history, the dehumanising language of the Final Solution seeps into the narrative via the conversations, memoranda and anonymous letters in circulation. SC Farb’s ruthless restructuring strategy, conveyed through a euphemistic discourse, becomes enmeshed in the dirty history of the Shoah.
