A début film resembling a news report and dominated by leading lady Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi. She is – ‘acts’ would not be the right word in this context – Martine, a 25-year-old girl or young woman with what looks like common or garden grief: her relationship with François has ended and she has the feeling her world is crumbling around her. At work she gets irritated and indifferent and further afield she has relationships which she breaks off before they have really started. She refuses to accept that François is no longer a part of her life, follows him in the street, causes a scene and demands an adequate explanation, which the dumbfounded François is unable to give. Minor incidents almost imperceptibly aggravate Martine’s crisis. When she ends up in the casualty department after a slight accident, her world suddenly collapses. She is admitted and, before she knows it, she is a psychiatric patient; the dividing line between normal and mad turns out to be very thin.As a patient, Martine displays a miraculous energy. She takes an interest in other patients and tries to organise their love life. She arranges encounters for people who could do without. This provides wonderful comic scenes which look as if they were improvised. The management of the institution is less than happy and Martine is banished. However she manages to bring her world together one long last time.
