Every Little Thing

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The sense of rightness and delicacy in the judgements that underpin Nicolas Philibert’s films is borne of a profound humanist impulse. Philibert himself put this well ... more >

The sense of rightness and delicacy in the judgements that underpin Nicolas Philibert’s films is borne of a profound humanist impulse. Philibert himself put this well when he says that rather than making films 'about', he makes films 'with and thanks to'.

Every Little Thing was filmed through the summer of 1995 in the La Borde psychiatric clinic in the Loire valley and shows the preparations and rehearsals for the clinic’s yearly production, which for the year in question, is the absurdist drama ‘Operetta’ by the Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz. The preparations for the play are inclusive. Everyone has a part to play and none is too small, from acting and singing, to playing an instrument and designing the programme.

Of course, with such a place and subject, boundaries are blurred between residents and staff. Not to indistinction though, it’s just that there’s a sense that for the time being, the play is more imporant than any apparent differences. Indeed, at one point, a resident wanders in front of the camera, saying the words, ‘I can’t take anymore’ before walking off. A sense of disquiet is tempered by not knowing whether he is commenting on the action of filming him, speaking of his own situation or simply speaking lines from the play. Each is plausible.

There are moments of profound surprise. One of the residents works on the clinic’s switchboard. When the caller doesn’t clearly understand what he is telling her, he switches to quietly-spoken and beautifully-enunciated English, which makes things clear. This moment of finding a common language illuminates the rest of the film, in which the common purpose is the play. When the same man is later asked what he thinks of it, he replies, ‘the lines are completely illogical - that consoles me’.
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