Before the final credits of the documentary On the Adamant begin to roll, director Nicolas Philibert can’t help but give his two cents. “In a world where thinking is limited to checkboxes and specificity is suppressed,” the intertitles announce, “some places continue to resist in order to keep alive the poetic faculty of humanity and language.”
Mr. Philibert has made excellent, sometimes disturbing, sometimes moving films about mental illness. The people he focuses on primarily engage in creative therapies, such as music and painting, and the director mostly refrains from being a documentarian. Fortunately, there are no talking heads in this movie.
But add a postscript about the authenticity of an outsider’s vision through poetry, specificity, and figurative language, and Mr. Philibert stoops to glorifying suffering. It is worth remembering that Van Gogh’s great paintings are not indicators of psychological suffering, but evidence that it can be clarified and transcended. We look down on the mentally ill and treat their illness as a sign of genius.
Van Gogh appears in “On the Adamant,” and that will give viewers pause. Frederick, one of the subjects of Mr. Philbert’s film, tells of a Byzantine conspiracy involving “that devil, that scoundrel” Wim Wenders. The German film director, as you can see, turned Frederick and his brother into “the reincarnation of Theo and Vincent.” [Van Gogh] …replaced by Reagan’s America. ” The 1984 film “Paris Texas” provided Mr. Wenders with the means to do so.
Frédéric is able to capture moments approaching clarity. After he extols the virtues of Jean Gabin, Louis de Funes, and Lino Venturi – Frédéric is an old-school movie buff – he begins to philosophize about the Adamant patients. “There are actors here who don’t know who they are.” It’s not medical. They have become actors without even realizing it. ” As it turns out, this is not an entirely inappropriate reference point for the various people we meet in Mr. Philibert’s photographs.
Adamant is a large wooden structure built on a barge moored on the Seine, a short walk from Gare de Lyon. Docking, i.e. stationary. This is a day care facility for adults with mental illness. Founded in 2010 by the Paris Central Psychiatry Group, Adamant serves the residents of the French capital’s first four arrondissements. This site is intended to provide medical assistance and foster a sense of community.
Residents of Adamant are able to voice their opinions through gentle off-camera questioning and scenes centered around group activities. Weekly accounting sessions at the ship’s coffee and snack bar interrupt proceedings regularly enough to give the film’s free-form structure a grounded feel. The accumulation of individual moments featuring specific characters allows for insight into the lives and struggles of Adamant’s guests.
The film begins with a brilliant cold opening. Adamant regular François performs the song “The Human Bomb” by the 1970s French rock band Telephone. What started as a routine recital turns into a spiritual cleansing. This number is sung with conviction that speaks to basic human truths rather than Top 40 nostalgia.
We then met up again with Francois and explained the relative benefits of medication, therapy, and living on Adamant. In these tightly constructed moments, “On the Adamant” proves its mettle not as a starry-eyed polemic but as a meditation on the frailties of the human animal.
