Notre corps

A teenager is sitting in the doctor’s consultation room, the camera films her from behind so that she remains anonymous. She tells the doctor how she got pregnant. Her boyfriend had assured her he would take care. Now she has to make a difficult decision. You can feel her anguish in every sentence she utters. And there’s no sign of the boyfriend.

This is one of the the first scenes in Claire Simon’s impressive documentary NOTRE CORPS. With a gaze full of tenderness, the French director looks around a gynaecology clinic in Paris, collecting scenes of births and cancer diagnoses, consultations on endometriosis and hormone therapy for an older trans woman. The film that emerges along the way starts off observational before becoming ever more personal, a film about what it means to live in a female body and a wonderful example of the power of documentary cinema. NOTRE CORPS gathers together experiences with which one usually feels left alone; it makes the structures visible that deem troubles individual; it reveals the extent to which the things we don’t dare to talk about have a societal dimension and need to be discussed. (Cristina Nord)

Production Kristina Larsen. Production company Madison Films (Paris, France). Director Claire Simon. Cinematography Claire Simon. Editing Luc Forveille. Sound Flavia Cordey. Production manager Aude Cathelin.

World sales Films Boutique.

Claire Simon, born in London, UK. She worked as an editor and made several short and documentary films before shooting her first feature-length film in 1997, SINON, OUI. In addition to being a director and screenwriter, Claire Simon also works as a cinematographer and actor. She has been a frequent guest of the Forum section of the Berlinale, most recently in 2018 with PREMIÈRES SOLITUDES.

Films: 1989: Les patients (75 min.). 1991: Scènes de ménage (40 min.). 1995: Coûte que coûte / At All Costs (95 min.). 1997: Sinon, oui / A Foreign Body (115 min.). 1998: Récréations (54 min.). 1999: Ça c’est vraiment toi (122 min.). 2000: 800 Kilomètres de différence / Romance (78 min.). 2002: Mimi (Berlinale Forum, 107 min.). 2006: Ça brûle / On Fire (111 min.). 2008: Les bureaux de Dieu / God's Offices (122 min.). 2013: Géographie humaine / Human Geography (101 min.), Gare du Nord (119 min.). 2015: Le bois dont les rêves sont faits / The Woods Dreams Are Made of (144 min.). 2016: Le concours / The Competition (121 min.). 2018: Premières solitudes / Young Solitude (Berlinale Forum, 100 min.). 2019: Le village – Première saison (280 min.), Le village – Saison deux (255 min.). 2020: Le fils de l'épicière, le maire, le village et le monde / The Grocer's Son, the Mayor, the Village and the World (111 min.). 2021: Vous ne désirez que moi / I Want to Talk About Duras (95 min.). 2023: Notre corps / Our Body.

Bonus Material