El tiempo que se queda

The Time that Rests takes us to a psychiatric hospital, as we perhaps imagine it in our collective memories. José Luis Torres Leiva shot his attractive and contemplative portrait in one of the oldest hospitals in Chile. Over a period of 10 months, he collected about 80 hours of material. In his second full-length documentary, the young director displays a high level of concentration in his framing and montage. In an equally intimate and modest way, he allows us to see and hear simple details in such a way that they become new, again acquiring meaning and weight, again given time and space.
In the long corridors, the garden or the communal spaces, we see the patients – the inhabitants – painting, doing sports, dancing or meeting their family. It isn’t a film about insanity or about patients with a psychiatric problem. The fact that we don’t see a diagnosis being made or someone being healed doesn’t mean it’s not a committed film.
Torres Leiva: ‘There is much pain and suffering in their bodies and looks. Therefore, they have a kind of “wisdom” about themselves. None of us have that level of consciousness. There is also an awareness of the responsibility involved in raising a topic like this one. I do not intend to idealise madness, but simply to be a witness to a reality we are not used to watching.’ (GT)

• 

• 

•