Some viewers discovered him on April 29, 2019, during his first participation in “12 Coups de midi”, a game hosted by Jean-Luc Reichmann, on TF1. That day, 19-year-old Paul El Kharrat introduces himself: “I have Asperger’s. It is an autistic syndrome that does not affect cognitive abilities, even if, in everyday life, it is a bit complicated. But it is okay. “He will chain 152 victories, before being spotted by Laurent Ruquier and joining his team of” Big Heads “, on RTL.
This rise is nothing compared to what Paul El Kharrat calls “my 153rd victory” (title of his book published by HarperCollins in 2020), namely his daily fight, since childhood, against himself to live in society, not to fall into depression and to raise awareness of Asperger’s syndrome, which “is not a disease but a dysfunction”, explains Professor David Da Fonseca in the documentary by Gwendoline Chesnais. This is what this extremely sensitive film shows, with the help of personal images, archives and, above all, multiple interviews with the entourage of Paul El Kharrat.
An impressive will
His grandmother was the first to detect signals in the 3-year-old. In Grenoble, his high school nurse recalls: “He made superhuman efforts to be present. Because, despite his memory, Paul El Kharrat is not a good student. One day, he loses his temper because his teacher is two years wrong about Sophocles’ date of birth. However, he won the baccalaureate, entered the faculty of history and applied for the “12 Coups de midi”. It’s a click. Including for his father, Ali, who discovers his son “at the same time as the public”. For the first time, “he is admired for his knowledge”, underlines his mother, Sophie, even if this new way of life is for him trying.
But the young man has an impressive will and a benevolent entourage. Thus, we will not tell his brother, Samih Ange, that his mother took less care of him than of his eldest; no more than his sister, Louise, who is more discreet.
In his room, Paul El Kharrat piles up “transitional objects” and books. He reads about a hundred a year, “to [s]escape into the dream, he says, the unreal, so as not to bear the harshness of the world around us”. It is also to escape that he makes lists. “Some won’t understand, but never mind. »
“Paul needs to learn to occupy his constantly boiling brain,” said Anthony Quittot, one of his two agents. He is also able to learn what, in theory, cannot be learned, such as humor and the second degree. On the other hand, he still does not know how to lie. Christine Bravo, also a member of the “Big Heads”, is amused: “If I ask him if I’m beautiful, he replies: ‘Well, no!’ »
