Qu'est-ce que je fais là ?

Immersion in the Crisis and Psychiatric Emergency Unit of the Saint-Luc University Clinics to gain an insight, in this unique environment, into not only the whole of humanity but also the quality of life of a society and its limits. What is the function of a mental health care provider in today’s society? Every therapist might ask himself or herself this question: “What am I doing here? Who am I to try to heal, knowing that in psychiatry, we accompany much more than we heal?”

After Histoires autour de la Folie, a feature-length documentary (1994) which documented a century of psychiatry in Ville-Evrard, the directors decided to tackle contemporary psychiatry from a fresh angle. Qu’est-ce que je fais là? takes a similar approach to previous productions, such as three feature films about AIDS (1993/1994/1995) and another that probed the minds of police officers (Dans la tête du gendarme, 2011). L’excellence et le doute examined youth and school prospects (2013). And most recently, Terrain Mineurs, filmed at the Juvenile Court of the Paris Court of First Instance (2016/2018). These documentaries observe lived experience, shot and edited in a way that delivers slices of reality.

Flagey, Cinematek