Our Body (2023)

Our-Body-(2023)
Our Body (2023)

French filmmaker Simon Claire’s appearance in ‘Our Body’ is somewhat spotty – I estimate she makes three appearances maximum. Initially, we see her walking toward the hospital from her house – passing, as she said, the graveyard where her father’s remains were. She further explains that the idea of the film originated from one of her producers, where ‘an… encounter’ took place in which her producer was sick with a disease ‘that introduced her into the feminine world’. And so Simon along with her camera entered that world of ‘gynecological pathologies that weigh down our lives, our hopes, our desires’. In a dark twist, she cautiously quips how she is hopeful that she does not catch cancer there.

And then in a Frederick Wiseman documentary ‘fly-on-the-wall’ fashion film, Simon glides us into the most personal, terrifying, and at times joyous feelings and moments of the individuals who visit the hospital. But unlike Wiseman’s movies that explore the world of rampant bureaucracy and institutions. Simon here concentrates on the lives of the patients and their interactions with gentle, empathetic, and highly skilled healthcare providers. Very little narrative on the professionals was provided. One very businesslike clinical set discussion of care planning and prognosis was one of the two scenes absent from all the patients.

The other brings to light doctors in a lab first attempting the merging of the egg and sperm for the couple’s use, there is the additional step where it gets truly fascinating. An almost three-hour-long stretch of run time for the film does mean experts do not weigh in on these matters. This could be doctor’s policy-specific ailments, treatment, or any sort of controversies. This is simply not the film where viewing what becomes of the patients we see during caregiving is possible. Creating such complexity only produces pieces of a single overarching narrative or storyline without it being linear.

One can take note, that Simon off camera seems to ask a question now and then which is followed by soft music trickling into the movie soundtrack. It should be no surprise how mostly everything else is calm chit-chat. The only elements of disturbance seem to be caused by hospital machinery echoing in hallways and examination rooms. Simon here concentrates on the lives of the patients and their interactions with gentle, empathetic, and highly skilled healthcare providers. Very little narrative on the professionals was provided. One very businesslike clinical set discussion of care planning and prognosis was one of the two scenes absent from all the patients.

No one ever appears to be on a deadline, so Americans will be wondering what in particular piqued their interest. It is also worth noting that there is no concern with insurance claims, Medicaid, dealing with paperwork, or the possibility of affording care. A caring and proficient attitude came from all the medical personnel in Our Body we observed. It is worth noting though how there was at one time an aggressive anti-abuse protest that occurred outside the hospital.

In a clinic, a girl wishes to get an abortion, while a woman pregnant with a dying fetus wishes to keep her baby. While these scenes are sometimes graphic, including an older trans man waiting to turn 18 so he can undergo treatment approved by his father, we witness how medical practitioners operate as a unit. Some patients struggle with the language, making communication quite hard. To translate some of the conversations, they use an iPhone to pass it around the room. An older trans woman discovers she has her version of menopause to go through, and stops using estrogen, a drug that helps in transitioning. For one doctor, pointing to themselves and using ‘vague but gentle’ words is not enough, so they resort to using a more cruel phrase–“sometimes the disease defeats bravery, and decides to defeat medicine.” She may not be very clear, but her words alongside the squeeze of the patient’s hand, are enough to get her point across.

The tremors exist and so do the hands of Simon, who desperately tries to capture the serious moments of life and death which may differ from person to person.

In a different setting, the effect of blurring a certain digital image slightly displays a close-up of a wig on an oncogenic. It also further displays a woman giving birth while a colleague has only the minimum necessary professional help, who aids and encourages her lovingly. The spouse has gone home to attend to other children. And Clara receives the grand, magical unveiling of life as the first word she hears while the mother crisps gently is the shelter of her hope, love, and joy, encompassed within a mother’s arms Our Body. There is always someone who gets bad news and there are those people who need to cope with a debilitating treatment which is sometimes disfiguring or else there are those who have come to accept the fact that they cannot conceive.

Except for the fact that all of them are not privileged, which certainly is a category that still the rich have other healthcare options, The patients are remarkably uniform. It is noteworthy how considerate are the medical staff. Their burnout, if any has developed, with some medical conditions could have been particularly interesting to know.

“Patients may have multiple problems with narrative, but they all have one puzzling story,” Simon says at the end.

The stories combined create what she refers to as “a waltz of destinies”. As Simon activates the camera and listens to the results from her doctor, it emphasizes the most vital point of the movie – all of us dance in the crazed waltz someday.

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