On the verge of retiring as a paediatrician, and department head in a hospital, 65-year-old Naïm receives an emergency visit from four-year-old Adam, fed exclusively on seeds and fruit by his mother. For the medical interest of this child, Naïm is led, in consultation with the judge, to separate him from his mother whilst his only other family tie is a father fleeing his parental responsibilities. Overcome with doubt and guilt, Naïm decides, without consulting the judge, to allow Adam’s mother to visit her son. What he doesn't realise, though, is that the mother has plans of her own...
"The well-being of the child is the starting point for exploring the moral and human conflict of a paediatrician confronted with a parent who refuses to acknowledge that their ideological convictions could endanger the life of their child. Through this story, I want to relate the repercussions of a medical decision on the destiny of a child. Feeling responsible for the consequences of this decision, the life of this paediatrician will be upturned and called into question. I want to set this story in a society that promotes well-being, and demonstrate how a medical condition can reveal a social problem." (Laura Wandel)
Laura Wandel
Born in 1984 in Brussels, Belgium, where she studied filmmaking at the IAD school. Her school film, Murs, was selected for many festivals around the world. After her first short film, O négatif (2011), she directed Foreign Bodies (2014), which screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Her first feature-length film, Playground, won the Un Certain Regard FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes.