POST-NATAL BLUES

The Théophile Roussel Institute in Montesson is a large district psychiatric hospital. It is a huge park with shady trees and rectangular buildings like barracks. In one of these
buildings, eight women live with their babies. They are women in great distress who are not capable of becoming mothers and looking after their children.At the heart of this mother-child unit, the film traces the long journey of these
women toward their children. Guided by psychiatrists and health workers, the mothers are accompanied and encouraged in each “maternal gesture”. Bathing, changing and feeding the baby are all part of their treatment. These apparently banal acts are the grounds for the construction of a mother-child relationship. Through their gestures and expressions, the mother’s development is expressed with no need for words. I was a companion to these mothers and over the days and months, they confided their doubts and their backgrounds. I saw them change and start relating to their children. I filmed this connection as it was created.