2023-04-19 15:58:00
Golden Bear in Berlin, Nicolas Philibert’s documentary tells how psychiatrists and patients invent their working methods together.
Par Florence Colombani
©TS Productions; France 3 Cinema; LONGRIDE;
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VHere is a film that “places reflection, feeling, sound and image on a deep level, on a humanist level, which touched all of us in the jury. It’s cinematic proof of the vital necessity of human expression, and it’s masterfully done.” These words, overflowing with enthusiasm and emotion, come from Kristen Stewart, president of the jury of the last Berlinale, when presenting the supreme award – the Golden Bear – to French documentary maker Nicolas Philibert for his film On the Adamant.
“Humanist”, the film is indeed, as always with Philibert, who has accompanied throughout his work (eleven feature films) and with the same respectful attention to children (To be and to Have2002), museum workers (The Louvre City1990), a resident of the menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes (Nenette,2010) and novice nurses (From every moment, 2018).
Unleashed creativity
Here, Philibert poses his camera in a barge moored to a quai de Seine, a day center that covers the first four Parisian arrondissements. This original place, bathed in light, is a motionless boat purposely designed to accommodate psychiatric patients. On theAdamantyou can read, play music, drink a coffee, attend a film club, take part in a workshop…
And also participate in support groups, to accompany an insidious malaise, sometimes visible to the naked eye, sometimes more underground. The drugs are there, of course, but not intrusive. What takes up the most space is creation: songs, paintings…
READ ALSO“Nearly 1 in 6 adolescents is affected by a mental or psychiatric disorder” The “madmen” of Adamant are all potential artists, influenced by Jim Morrison, Vincent Van Gogh or François Truffaut in equal measure. Nicolas Philibert accompanies their moments of anxiety as much as their laughter, scrutinizes caregivers as much as patients. His cinema at human height is also militant. At a time when the profession is multiplying cries of alarm, the filmmaker dares to plead for another way of treating, supporting and even looking at mental illness.
On the Adamant, indoors.
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