Lovingly depicted in French filmmaker Nicolas Philibert’s new documentary, the elegant boat moored on the River Seine in Paris could easily be mistaken for a tourist trap. The adamant, as the ship calls it, is actually part of the psychiatric network of the Saint-Maurice Hospital. On board, outpatients interact under the guidance of a small team of doctors and volunteers. Beyond its striking modern design and unusual setting, something else sets it apart adamant: Art plays a key role in the clinic’s approach to psychiatric therapy. For the medical professionals and patients on board, the therapy is a form of poetic resistance rather than a mere extension of pharmaceutical science.
in adamant, which won the Golden Bear at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival, underscores the clinic’s mission as the last bastion of the humanities in French healthcare, with art activities ranging from drawing and music workshops to a film club. Although the documentary shows no villains, it is easy to guess that the French health system, universal and public, is undergoing some kind of profit-driven privatization, similar to the American sector. The adamant the approach, on the other hand, has no immediate measurable results; it’s incredibly open and process-driven. Participants come and go freely; some, including Muriel, a mild-mannered middle-aged woman, help with the meetings, while others wander passively. The clinic’s spirit of collegiality means that all activities are proposed, discussed and planned by staff and participants, as long as they comply with its safety guidelines.
The film focuses on a group of visitors who show a remarkable awareness of slipping from the limelight. François, a gaunt man whose stark song about tranquilizers opens the film, describes frantic situations in which he believes he is Jesus. Muriel, feeling uneasy at a drawing workshop, sketches a praying mantis that will eat her lover, joking, “I’ll draw him a plate.” Such brief exchanges and observations emphasize that art workshops can help patients with psychiatric disorders find a new confidence in their ability to translate troubled experiences into images and words—what can be called everyday poetry. As one patient says: “How can I be good today? Such things are important.”
Philibert alternates his shots between wide shots capturing the group dynamics of arts and crafts activities and more intimate, one-on-one conversations, shot up close. The scenes taken as a whole drive home the message that art has a poetic function because it endures even when words fail. For example, participants’ sustained concentration extends to practical tasks on their drawing boards and easels, such as counting money ( adamant she runs her own cafe), catering or sewing. The arts act as an invitation to be present for a long time, to experiment and tinker, making extra-linguistic discoveries along the way.
in adamant it also strongly conveys the link between individuality and collectivity. Clinic patients not only create art, but also present it to others. “The inside goes on,” says a young woman, standing in front of an easel with her abstract painting, a stunning metaphor for how art brings out the spirit. Even those struggling with delusions, such as the man who believes he and his brother are the reincarnations of Vincent and Theo van Gogh, find their place. adamant. There, the visuals are the poetic manifestations of the mind, and art is the channel that concretizes them.
in adamant (2023), directed by Nicolas Philibert, will be screened at the IFC Center (323 Sixth Avenue, Greenwich Village, Manhattan) from March 29 to April 4.
