IT’S RAINING CATS AND DOGS

Claire Doyon
After a feature film devoted to her non- verbal autistic daughter (Pénélope my love, FID 2021), Claire Doyon turns to an Asperger autistic female friend for answers to some of her questions. The friend is sitting, facing the camera, in a large garden where the birds sing. Very quickly, the words spoken on both sides of the camera go well beyond the scope of the interview. For as much as welcoming speech, or even more so, what matters is to welcome a presence. Laying out the interview’s digital matter with silent Super 8 flower shots, Claire Doyon does not only succeed in offering one of the most tender, playful portraits. As seldom seen before, her short, sharp film manages to touch on the enigma of autism as a way of being in the world, and on its very own poetry. (Cyril Neyrat)