On the Adamant Reviews (original) (raw)
Summary The Adamant is a one-of-a-kind place: a floating refuge on the Seine River in the heart of Paris that offers day programs for adults with mental illnesses. Its attendees come from across the city and are offered care that grounds them in time and space, helping them achieve recovery and stability. Through a blend of therapy, education, a...
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Summary The Adamant is a one-of-a-kind place: a floating refuge on the Seine River in the heart of Paris that offers day programs for adults with mental illnesses. Its attendees come from across the city and are offered care that grounds them in time and space, helping them achieve recovery and stability. Through a blend of therapy, education, a...
In a perfect world, Philibert’s film will serve as a wake-up call for reconfiguring how we approach the treatment of mental illness on a global level.
The film’s observational approach means that little context is provided for the techniques used here, or for the lives and circumstances of the daily visitors. But the warm, non-judgmental embrace of Philibert’s approach is profoundly affecting.
There is a gentle and very happy sense of freedom and possibility aboard the Adamant, and there is enormous warmth, sympathy and human curiosity in this film.
What emerges is not only a depiction of psychiatric treatment administered with plenty of warmth and enthusiasm, but a portrait of several individuals who, despite their noticeable disabilities, are capable of producing original and moving works of art.
Philibert’s fly-on-the-wall documentary is all the more effective because the director refuses to pretend that he isn’t visible — not in this place where people come to be seen, and not merely looked at.
That Philibert doesn’t stick to a “main character,” or impose a phony narrative arc, vibes well with the facility’s free-spirited methods, even if the documentary lacks the drama of a more structured production.
Unwilling to risk subjectivity or authorial input, and also lacking in the forensic detail that might have provided a more in-depth analysis of the Centre de jour l’Adamant and its functioning, On the Adamant ultimately feels half-formed.
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Production Company TS Productions, France 3 Cinéma, Longride, Ciné+, France Télévisions, Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC), Les Films du Losange, UniversCiné, La Région Île-de-France
Release Date Mar 29, 2024
Duration 1 h 49 m
El Gouna Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Berlin International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Silk Road International Film Festival China
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination