The psychiatric hospital at La Borde in Loir-et-Cher is inextricably bound up with the French psychiatrist Jean Oury. In 1953 Oury developed his own treatment method here with his colleagues Lucien Bonafé and André Tosquelles. They called it ‘institutional psychiatry’. Friends had previously pointed documentary-maker Nicolas Philibert towards the institute, but however much they said it was typically something for him, he had his doubts for a long time. Only when he heard about a play that was performed every year by both ‘patients’ and nurses, did he see possibilities for a film.Philibert’s interest is not primarily in how the institute functions or in the nature of the patients’ insanity, but in the rehearsals of the play by the great Polish-Argentine modernist Witold Gombrowicz. Philibert: ‘The film records the ups and downs of preparations for the play. It also looks at everyday life in La Borde, the passing of time, apparently unimportant details, the loneliness and exhaustion, but also the shared joy and the great attention that people pay to each other.’ The idea of having Gombrowicz’ absurd and incoherent text played by people who have problems with rational reality is brilliant. The fusion of Gombrowicz with the functional anti-psychiatry practiced in the La Borde institution provides amazing alienating effects.
