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The Wall documentary

Original title: Le Mur (The Wall)
Year: 2012
Running time: 52 min.
Country: France
Director: Sophie Robert
Screenwriter: Sophie Robert
Cast: Documentary
Producer: Ocean Invisible Productions
Genre: Documentary | Disability. Autism / Asperger
Synopsis: A documentary film about autism and psychoanalysis, which became the subject of a court case in France. The film considers the question of whether psychoanalysis is a suitable treatment for autism. The film argues that while the rest of the world considers autism as a neurological disorder caused by anomalies in a specific area of the brain, in France concepts of the condition remain dominated by psychoanalysis, which sees autism as a form of psychosis caused by difficulties in subjective relationships and ultimately caused by the actions of the mother.

The film follows two autistic boys: Guillaume, who has been treated with the behavioral, or “American,” approach; and Julien, who has been kept in an asylum for six years and treated with psychoanalysis. Guillaume, though challenged, is functioning at a high level in school. Julien is essentially silent, locked out of society.

The film argues that the psychoanalytic approach to autism is based on ignorance and misogyny and leads to harmful consequences for autistic children who fall under the care of psychoanalysts. The film ends with Robert asking the psychoanalysts what an autistic child can realistically expect to gain from a psychoanalytic therapy; the psychoanalysts interviewed are shown not to be able to answer this question coherently.

Three of the psychoanalysts whom Ms. Robert interviewed for the film have sued her, claiming she misrepresented them in the 52-minute documentary, which has not yet been screened in cinemas or on television. The three plaintiffs expressed the view that they hold intellectual property rights to the footage filmed by Ms Roberts and that she edited it without their consent and thus distorted their comments. The court (Lille Regional Court) found against Roberts thus banning the film. However this ban was overturned by a court of appeal in 2014. The appeal court found that while Robert may have misled the psychoanalysts as to the editorial line her film would take, she had not materially misrepresented their views in her editing of the footage. As of 2016 the film is available for viewing online.

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User history

The Wall

2012

Sophie Robert