This is a film that “places thinking, feeling, sound and image on a deep level, on a humanistic level, that touched all of us on 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 Sur l’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 (Being and Having, 2002), employees of museum (La Ville Louvre, 1990), a resident of the menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes (Nénette, 2010) and novice nurses (From every moment, 2018).
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 the Adamant, you 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…
On the Adamant, indoors.
