After a serious sport accident in a swimming pool, Ben, now an incomplete quadriplegic, arrives in a rehabilitation center. He meets with other handicapped persons (tetraplegics, paraplegics, traumatized crania), all victims of accidents, as well as a handicapped since his early childhood. They go through impotence, despair and resignation, with their daily struggle to learn how to move a finger or to hold a fork. Some of them slowly find a little mobility while others receive the verdict of the handicap for life. Despite everything, hope and friendship help them endure their difficulties.
Acting
Non-professional disabled actors bring devastating authenticity.
Writing
Grand Corps Malade adapts his own slam poetry memoir.
Direction
Two first-timers capture institutional claustrophobia without pity.
Director
Grand Corps Malade
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Grand Corps Malade is France's most famous slam poet; the film's title comes from his autobiographical verse about patients becoming 'prisoners of their own bodies.'
The film sparked debate in France about care facility conditions that persist today; several cast members were residents of the actual center where filming occurred.
FR
