“Flight over a cuckoo’s nest”, the Milos Forman classic worn by Jack Nicholson, is broadcast this Monday evening on Arte. But by the way, what does this title mean?
Released in French cinemas in 1976, Flight over a Cuckoo’s Nest by Milos Forman, a must-have in the seventh art, tells the story of the confrontation of bubbling Randall Patrick McMurphy, new resident of a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s, with Mildred Ratched, the bossy headmistress of the establishment.
While Arte is broadcasting Flight over a Cuckoo’s Nest this Monday evening, we are looking at the title of this classic worn by Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher. What can it possibly mean?
To get the meaning of the title One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in VO), we must first delve into Ken Kesey’s bestseller published in 1962 and from which the film is adapted. In the book, we learn that Chief Bromden (played on screen by Will Sampson) worked on his pronunciation of the English language with a song.
The song in question ends like this:Wire, briar, limber-lock / Three geese in a flock / One flew east, one flew west / And one flew over the cuckoo’s nest” flew east, one flew west / And one flew over the cuckoo’s nest”). We can clearly draw a parallel between these few verses (the last of which is the title of the work) and the end of the story, with the deaths of Billy (Brad Dourif) and McMurphy, then the escape of Chief Bromden.
Finally, note that the English term “cuckoo”, if it literally designates a bird (the cuckoo), is also used in slang to describe a slightly crazy person. The metaphor with the psychiatric establishment then appears quite obvious here.
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