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On the Adamant

Sur l’Adamant

2023

Nicolas Philibert

Documentary

6.5

166

Documentary The Adamant is a unique day-care centre. A floating structure located on the Seine in the heart of Paris, it welcomes adults suffering from mental disorders, offering the kind of care that grounds them in time and space and helps them to recover or keep up their spirits. The team running it tries to resist the deterioration and dehumanisation of psychiatry as best as they can.

	Media	Author	Review
		Jonathan Romney Screendaily	"A warm documentary (...) Waving a flag for the positive possibilities of an empathetic, culture-centred approach to mental care"
		Fabien Lemercier Cineuropa	"Nicolas Philibert dismantles prejudice with a brilliant, tender and exceptionally authentic documentary about disorders of the mind"
		Guy Lodge Variety	"A tender tour of a mental health sanctuary (...) A low-key affair with gentle emotional peaks that reward viewers' patience — and prove the merit of its non-intrusive approach" "
		Jordan Mintzer The Hollywood Reporter	"Touching exploration of creativity and mental illness"
		Wendy Ide The Guardian	"Profoundly affecting documentary about a Paris psychiatric day centre (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Stephanie Bunbury Deadline	"In his remarks at the end, Philibert suggests that there must be places in the world that have space for poetry. Poetry is definitely top of the pops on the good ship Adamant."
		Rory O'Connor The Film Stage	"Where the film succeeds in drawing you into all that life, however, it does so in a patchwork of moments that never quite suggest a whole"
		David Robb Slant	"A tender, if half-sketched, survey of a mental health haven (...) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"
		Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"A warm and sympathetic documentary that is a worthy winner of the Berlin film festival’s Golden Bear (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Craig Mathieson Sydney Morning Herald	"Intimately observed over many months, the feature captures how the act of creating plainly helps the patients at Centre de Jour l’Adamant, who slowly reveal themselves to the camera with wryly unaffected honesty"
		Edward Porter The Sunday Times	"[The] method is frustrating, but the movie's subtle, compassionate report still holds rewards (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		David Ehrlich IndieWire	"A de-stigmatized approach to mental health treatment (...) The world's most beautiful psychiatric facility is the backdrop for an observational documentary about the virtue of dignified mental health care"

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