a medical and sensitive dive into the female anatomy

Claire Simon had adventures desired or suffered from Our body, that of women, a masterful documentary, to be discovered in theaters from October 4. Filmed within the walls of the Tenon hospital in the gynecology-obstetrics department, in Paris, and giving a voice to the patients, the feature film gives full meaning to this cinematographic form whose vocation is to capture reality.

Along the water

The first interview that the viewer is invited to attend in Our body and the pink of the adolescent’s clothing, whose initiation into the things of love we discover, seem to make the link with God’s Offices (2008). In her feature-length fiction film, Claire Simon made the following promise: “Everything you always wanted to know about women… but never dared to ask”. With Our bodythis promise is kept to the end, especially since the director regretted not having mentioned the monitoring of pregnancies in this fictional immersion in the daily life of a family planning office.

By inviting us in his footsteps and taking our hand until the final credits of Our body, Claire Simon makes spectators privileged witnesses to the vicissitudes of the female body by offering them images only accessible to medical personnel. Everything is there: from sexual awakening to pregnancy, including abortion, sex change, medically assisted procreation, gynecological pathologies – breast cancer, which may require breast reconstruction, and endometriosis in particular -, as well as gynecological and obstetrical violence around which taboos fall. Our body treats these different subjects in a perfectly coherent chronology.

All these women and their companions, who trusted Claire Simon by giving themselves up unvarnished in intimate and often difficult moments, tell through their bodies an important part of their lives: their suffering, their happiness and their hopes. In this hospital, where we are invited to walk through the corridors and stop in its different rooms, we admire the quality of listening and the involvement of the caregivers. Those involved in in vitro fertilization procedures express excitement, comparable to that of parents. We also see doctors, who master the language of their interlocutors as best they can (Spanish or English), not backing down when the information is not easy to hear or give.

Claire Simon’s documentary, which lasts almost three hours, is irregular due to the very fact of what is filmed: there are testimonies, situations which seem more intense than others. Like this scene which shows the enchantment of childbirth for a mother guided by a specialist, a midwife (midwife) whose soothing voice still resonates long after having seen the film. But this experience, solitary in many ways, can be traumatic. The sequences related to childbirth are also as poignant as those about the end of life.

Claire Simon, one patient among others

By (re)discovering the support that those who have recourse to abortion can benefit from, we can better understand how precious this right, of which some American women have recently been deprived and, more broadly, hundreds of women all over the world, is. The simplicity of the medical procedure surrounding this gesture, which is obviously not trivial, reinforces this feeling. Just like consultations related to transition (to female or male gender) are a reminder that not everyone who wants it has access to it. Our body is thus akin to a geopolitical state of women’s health. Beyond the bans, it is also the medical technology made available to them that can be seen. And not all women are as lucky as those who live on French territory.

Our body is a magnificent documentary because it is at once informative, exhaustive, technical and eminently human. Especially since Claire Simon also shares, as she asked those she films, her intimacy with the spectators. Our body is quite simply a document for women and all those with whom they live.

The sheet

Gender : documentary
Director: Claire Simon
Country : France
Duration : 2h48
Exit : October 4, 2023
Distributer : Dulac Distribution

Synopsis: I had the opportunity to film the epic tale of female bodies in the hospital, in their diversity, their singularity, their beauty throughout the stages on the path of life.
A journey of desires, fears, struggles and unique stories that each person experiences alone. One day I had to go in front of the camera.