French documentarian Nicolas Philibert offers up a typically astute and compassionate view of a perhaps little-known Parisian institution with his eleventh feature, On the Adamant. The film observes life on board the eponymous decommissioned steamship which has been moored at the Quai de Rapée on the Seine since 2010 and which, while classed as a hospital, is more a floating community which caters sensitively for its patients’ creative needs.
The film, which won the Golden Bear for Best Film at this’s Berlin Film Festival, focusses very much on the people rather than the place, with the 72-year-old filmmaker having spent months aboard this large, rather elegant, barge detailing the many facets of this unique mental health care facility.
Philibert, whose previous films include Louvre City, In the Land of the Deaf and To Be and To Have, is a specialist when it comes to dwelling on a specific location and, as in previous films, underlines his talents with attention to detail and a good deal of old-fashioned compassion. His calm and steady camera (he acts as his own cameraman) is cleverly immersive and judgmental as he allows patients and staff to gently reveal aspects of themselves.
The staff are sensitive and flexible with the patients and the artistic treatment is handled well, and while many of the individuals have clear disabilities they also show talent in delivering impressive works of art. Art therapy includes cooking, painting, drawing and making music as well as assisting in basic tasks, such as running the cash register.
There are regular meetings between patients and staff where they discuss upcoming events, such as an England vs Italy football match, and they debate the upcoming ciné-club anniversary and the films that will be shown. There is also plenty of footage from the Centre’s modest coffee bar where many patients gather…and express their loyalty towards specific coffee cups.
L’Adamant’s actual location is very much a key aspect of the film, anchored a short walk from the Louvre, the Bibliothèque Nationale and the Musée d’Orsay, it is a distinctive barge with the doors (at least a gangway) open to patients who live close by or who even commute into town for treatment. But Philibert never delves into French politics or debate over care. Instead it is the patients who carry the narrative and it is gently uplifting to witness them sing or produce the artworks that they subsequently discuss in group sessions.
In this instance art therapy seems to have a therapeutic impact on the patients. Often they discuss things directly to camera (one tells Philibert that Nicolas is a nice name) and gradually the viewer gets a sense of what troubles them and the true essence of their personalities. The film balances humour with pathos but its relaxed attitude never belies the fact that Philibert is telling an essential story about the importance of compassionate therapy to assist in treating mental health issues.
France, 2023, 109mins
Dir/Editor/Cinematography: Nicolas Philibert
Production: TS Productions, Longride, France 3 Cinema
International sales: Les Films du Losange
Producers: Miléna Poylo, Gilles Sacuto, Céline Loiseau
Scr: Linda De Zitter, Nicolas Philibert
