Sur l'Adamant / On the Adamant

Nicolas Philibert: Sur l'Adamant (FR 2022).

2022

Feel-Good / Festival Hit / Urban Spaces / Mental Health / Society

Theme: Spotlight Selection

Country: France

Director: Nicolas Philibert

Production: Miléna Poylo, Gilles Sacuto, Céline Loiseau / TS Productions

Duration: 109 min

Rating: K12

Kino-Palatsi 1, Love & Anarchy: Helsinki International Film Festival (HIFF), 20 Sep 2023

Otto Kylmälä (HIFF 2023): " Adamant on Seine-joella kelluva taideterapian päiväkeskus, jossa eritaustaiset mielenterveysongelmaiset ihmiset kohtaavat toisiaan, askartelevat ja soittavat musiikkia. Keskuksen paikka keskellä jokea kahden rannan välissä kuvastaa sen asemaa ja ihmisiä yhteiskunnallisessa välitilassa. Vasemman ja oikean rannan välinen vastakkainasettelu ja politiikka eivät kuulu heille, vaan he ovat iloisesti keskellä. "

" Laiva on lastattu niin suunnattomalla empatialla ja luovuudella, että ajoittain tuntuu, kuin keskuksen ihmiset säteilisivät inhimillisyyttä yhtä runollisesti kuin laineet kimaltavia auringonsäteitä. Elokuva alkaakin esityksellä Téléphone-yhtyeen ihmisen räjähtävästä potentiaalista todistavasta kappaleesta “La bombe humaine”. Dokumentti ei kuitenkaan ole niin naiivi, että väittäisi taideterapian olevan ratkaisu kaikkeen, vaan muutakin hoitoa tarvitaan. Kuten eräs potilas toteaa, ilman lääkkeitään hän julistaisi itsensä Jeesukseksi ja hyppäisi Seineen. "

" Berliinin elokuvajuhlilla pääpalkinnon napannut mestaridokumentaristi Nicolas Philibert tekee tarkkailuelokuviaan Frederick Wisemanin hengessä. Isojen kasvottomien instituutioiden sijaan Philibertin elokuvat kuitenkin keskittyvät havainnoimaan ihmisten välisiä suhteita ja hellyyttä, kuten vuotta koululaisten elämässä kuvannut, hurmaava Nytpä tahdon olla mä (2002). " Otto Kylmälä

Quoted by HIFF 2023: " There was real justice in Kristen Stewart’s Berlin jury awarding their top prize, the Golden Bear, to this excellent movie from the 72-year-old French director and lion of documentary film-making, Nicolas Philibert. His film is compassionate, intelligent and shrewdly observed; it is about a Paris landmark which has only been in existence for 13 years but which tourists and anyone with an interest in mental health should really come and marvel at. The Adamant is a floating day-care centre for people with mental disorders, permanently moored on the Seine just by the Charles de Gaulle bridge. " Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Quoted by HIFF 2023: " Trends in documentary-making have shifted radically since Nicolas Philibert’s Être et Avoir was a surprise arthouse hit two decades ago: (…) His latest, On the Adamant, finds him once more examining the human workings of a care-based institution from a reserved but compassionate distance, avoiding commentary and editorialization in favor of real-life character portraiture. (…) "

" The human subjects here are both expressive and highly vulnerable, open to the low-key, non-invasive presence of Philibert’s camera, and the film is content to be an undulating patchwork of their everyday moods and moments, rather than anything more strenuously conceptual. " Guy Lodge, Variety

Language: French

Subtitles: English

Distribution: Njuta Films

Print source: Njuta Films

Cinematography: Nicolas Philibert

Editing: Nicolas Philibert

Sound: Érik Ménard, François Abdelnour

In collaboration with Institut Français Finlande

A note on the title: Adamant is the name of the houseboat where the film was shot. The word derives from classical Greek: "adamas" means "indomitable". Also the word "diamond" is derived from "adamas". "Adamantine" is the professional term for the superior lustre of a diamond.

From the Les Hôpitaux de Saint-Maurice homepage:

" CENTRE DE JOUR L’ADAMANT HÔPITAL DE JOUR ET CATTP. Un lieu privilégié: Le Centre de Jour L'Adamant est un bâtiment flottant situé au pied du pont Charles de Gaulle, sur la rive droite de la Seine. Ce bâtiment, qui respecte les normes Haute Qualité Environnementale, a été spécialement créé pour être un Centre de Jour. Le cabinet d'architecte qui l'a conçu a travaillé en liens étroits avec l'équipe et les patients du centre. "

Featuring: Sabine Berlière, Mamadi Barri, Walid Benziane, Romain Bernardin, Jean-Paul Hazan, Pauline Hertz, Frédéric PriFeaeur, Sébastien Tournayre, Muriel Thourond (des patients et soignants).

AA: Nicolas Philibert is a master of the social psychological cinema. He has made a movie about a school class (Être et avoir), a village whose inhabitants played main roles in the historical family slaughter tragedy Moi, Pierre Rivière, ayant égorgé ma mère, ma sœur et mon frère... (Retour à Normandie), the world of the hard-of-hearing (Le Pays des sourds) and a theatre project of a psychiatric clinic (La Moindre des choses).

Sur l'Adamant is also about a community: a daycare center for people with mental disorders. Philibert is interested in the people, not the structure, the organization or even the unique architectural solution of the daycare center. Sur l'Adamant is closer to Federico Fellini than Frederick Wiseman. (Regarding cinephilia: the Adamant people run their own film society, evidently of a high quality).

The subject is obviously extremely sensitive, and Philibert's mastery is in his tact, courtesy, tenderness and respect for the dignity of the people. These people are different from the others, but aren't we all. They happen to need more help and attention, but letting us encounter them they help us more. They help us gain a richer and deeper understanding of life and ourselves. They contribute immeasurably to our common odyssey on Earth.

Especially in this year in which the major discussion topic has been ChatGPT [GPT = generative pre-trained transformer] as a phenomenon of "artificial intelligence", the most misleading term in history. A computer is superior in data processing, which is a necessary but by far not a sufficient condition for intelligence. Intelligence is a characteristic unique to a human subject.

Recommended for everybody but especially for professionals of mental health.

The film's final written remark sums up Adamant's mission in safeguarding the poetry of humanity and language. "But for how long?"

"Jusqu'à quand?"

Le Centre de Jour L'Adamant est un bâtiment flottant situé au pied du pont Charles de Gaulle, sur la rive droite de la Seine, quai de la Rapée dans le 12e arrondissement de Paris. Photo not from the film but from the Les Hôpitaux de Saint-Maurice homepage.