D is for Distance

A heartbreaking, but ultimately hopeful, account of the epilepsy of Louis Petit as documented by his parents, filmmakers Christopher Petit and Emma Matthews. Alongside the struggle within Britain’s ailing national health care system, a far-reaching essay-collage on technology, capitalism and the human mind.

”More is known about the universe than the brain”. This sums up the situation of Louis Petit, sufferer of a rare, frighteningly debilitating form of complex epilepsy that shattered years of his young life and erased his memory of childhood. Louis’ parents, filmmakers Christopher Petit and Emma Matthews, tell Louis’ ongoing story through an extraordinary archive of footage that includes documentation of his seizures. The family finds itself up against the unbending bureaucracy of Britain’s inhumane health care regulations – and seeks provisional solutions elsewhere, including Rotterdam itself.

Yet this is only one layer of a remarkable essay-collage. The father’s unmade film project concerning two Americans, writer William S. Burroughs and former CIA chief James Angleton – both addicted, obsessive and paranoid – provides a wider frame to explore the links between “technology and the subconscious”, capitalism and the “inner reality” of the mind. Using a stunningly edited array of film clips, art works (including Louis’ rich depictions of his “visionary” condition), sound textures and road movie travels, D is for Distance focuses simultaneously on the microcosm of personal pain and the macrocosm of social decline. The details are bleak, but the film is a beacon of hope.

– Adrian Martin

Trailer