On the Edge
A dynamic, poignant portrait of an idealist showing the French health care system in crisis. A psychiatrist faces impossible odds but works alone to save the patients of a large Paris hospital.
Nicolas Peduzzi spectacularly tackles a demanding topic: his camera follows a tireless doctor, incessantly running through the corridors of a huge Paris hospital. Jamal, the hospital's only psychiatrist, tirelessly attends to demanding patients—these residents run the gamut from a tourist overwhelmed by religious fever to a dealer hiding in the hospital haven from angry debtors. Depressed adolescents, often after suicide attempts, make up an increasingly large group. Jamal tries to help everyone, despite budget cuts and the absurd requirements of hospital bureaucracy, and counter to common sense, which suggests that the problem is not the patients but a sick system.
Konrad Wirkowski
2023 CPH:DOX
2023 ACID Cannes