Claire Simon. “Women’s bodies suffer more than men’s, they should realize that”

Voluntary abortion, endometriosis that has disrupted daily life for years, the painful and exhausting journey of assisted reproduction, childbirth, cancer, mastectomy, chemotherapy… Clare Simon calls it “the epic of women’s bodies”. Understand everything women’s bodies can face in their lives, from youth to death. This wonderful story is told by the director and shown in his new film Our body (1), in theaters on October 4. For seven weeks, the director immersed himself in the gynecology-obstetrics department of the Tenon Hospital in the 20th arrondissement of Paris to film his patients and their intimacy.

Completely removed from the narration (except for the first minutes of the documentary, during which we hear her narrating the origin of the project), Claire Simon moves between characters and films consultations, operations or even doctors’ meetings that decide some cases. A post-ablation breast palpation, an ovarian puncture, a gentle and calm discussion between the patient and her doctor, who tells her that the disease has finally won… With much humanity, the filmmaker makes us join the community of bodies. . An ensemble that she suddenly integrated during the filming of her film, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and which forced her to appear in front of the camera. Meeting.

Madame Figaro: Showing all that a woman’s body can go through from youth to death, what did you want to say?
Claire Simon: I felt that the life arc of women’s and trans people’s bodies was not being told. Our bodies are seduced and sold for their beauty, but ultimately what we go through throughout our lives is not told. My producer Christina Larsen, who had the idea for this film, also told me the story of her two very difficult years in the hospital, during which she discovered a mostly female world with patients, nurses or even female surgeons. a world that is also not told. And if description can certainly be done through books, then showing things through film allows us to understand. Take the example of endometriosis (Claire Simon filming surgery in her film, Editor’s noteSeeing the piece of body inside the body allows you to understand what it is, visualize it, understand your own pain and then heal yourself.

Does your film have an educational purpose?
If there is a result, so good, but above all I wanted to understand. I really like the anthropological dimension of cinema. For example, while shooting this service, I realized the PMA process, this division into neat parts, which amazed me. We have love, partners who come to the doctor, the lady who does very difficult and difficult treatment, the gentleman who collects the sperm and regrets that he can’t do more, then the egg retrieval. Then the laboratory assistant looks for the egg cell on his screen, the other one counts the spermatozoa, then we “prepare” the embryos. It’s a human laboratory that I found fascinating, extraordinary from start to finish. Not to mention that this process tells something about our thinking, our civilization. I told myself, for example, that the virgin and child will be replaced by the image of an ovum fertilized by sperm.

In your film, we might see an egg retrieval, a caesarean section, or even a breast touch. How did you convince women to film their private lives?
Once they arranged for me to film a consultation or a surgery, filming the rest was a bit indirect. And they also agreed because they thought their experience was worth filming for others.

The patients agreed that I filmed their intimacy because they felt their experience was worth filming for others.

Claire Simon, director

And for good reason, you also show the reality of the body, which is most often hidden…
Yes! For example, this moment of undressing in the consultation room, during which we always feel very uncomfortable, which indicates that our body is not known. During the shoot I told myself every day “shoot the body, shoot the body, shoot the body”. According to the women, I came closer, further, I wanted it to be beautiful. My goal was for us to understand the body, its beauty, a bit like sculptures. Whether fiction or documentary, the body is the subject of cinema, in my opinion; and I’ve always enjoyed shooting it.

You also show the pain, suffering and courage of these patients. Women’s bodies are destined to suffer more than men’s.
Yes, and others should realize this. Moreover, even if it is not a film for men, it is interesting that they are able to imagine all these painful stages, because they have the characteristic of affecting personal life. I remember a wonderful concert by saxophonist Steve Coleman that I attended when I found out I had breast cancer. I watched them play with his group, all together, I found them very beautiful and said to myself: indeed, from the age of 14 to the age of 70, nothing about their genitalia suits them. encumber They can and will excel in their art. And I was a little jealous (laughs). It’s been said that women’s bodies suffer, but the more we see other people’s bodies, the better. As for me, for example, the fact that I filmed all these women and not just the ones with cancer made me feel a lot calmer when I was sick.

Did the film change your understanding of diagnosis and illness?
Of course. Having seen other women affected, we know the treatment protocols. So I knew that breast cancer is one of the best to treat. If I hadn’t made this film, I would have been completely devastated, much more so than I was. There I learned about the disease very slowly and seeing other cases, my anxiety showed. But the opposite is also true. While editing the film, after chemotherapy, I watched the scenes of the meeting of the oncologists, and everything was subject to hypochondria. It was worst of all, so much so that my editor decided to take care of these sequences alone.

After the news of your cancer, you decided to go in front of the camera. What was your thought process before you were exposed?
I decided to do this because until now I could not film the announcement about the illness. Doctors believed that this was a time when looking at a patient’s face was extremely difficult. When this happened to me, I told myself that it might be useful for something. I worked hard to be recognized, but I knew I wouldn’t be more important than others. We think directors and directors are above the fray, but the sound engineer and I felt like we were a part of all these women. I filmed my peers, being among their peers.

After being immersed in the hospital, what did you learn about the medical staff, their view of women’s bodies, and women’s illnesses?
Of course, there is a more or less strong birth ideology among some. When talking about fertility preservation, for example, it sounds good, but for those who choose not to have children, it can be aggressive. I should also say that I found the female doctors a little more attentive, except for one. They answer the questions, they are less concerned about their scientific importance, even if it is very high. Overall I found all these doctors extraordinary in their knowledge and dedication, I was very impressed. The first time I filmed a meeting of doctors, I was amazed, I was amazed by their work, by the fact that all cases are always studied during the meeting. What they do is very difficult, sometimes they report disastrous news. And surgeons, gynecologists, radiologists, endocrinologists, I am thinking especially about the doctor who visits trans people… All these people are very advanced in civilization, and we owe them a lot.

Which matches were the most exciting?
It is very difficult to say! The sound engineer and I were crying a lot behind the camera. which hasn’t happened to me much so far. I especially think about this extraordinary woman who gives birth, what she says to her newborn child, how she accepts him… It’s simple and beautiful. And then this patient who was suffering from cancer during pregnancy… We felt a great inner anger in him. Or this woman who is about to die and her doctor who tells her on the hospital bed. I loved every person I shot.

(1) Our bodyClaire Simon’s documentary (2h48), in theaters October 4.