On the Adamant

French master documentarist Nicolas Philibert takes an empathetic, celebratory in-depth look at a floating mental care centre and its regulars.

Moored on the Seine, the Adamant is a day centre for people with mental-health issues, offering a haven with an empowering emphasis on cultural engagement. Nicolas Philibert’s (Être et avoir) richly involving documentary, this year’s Golden Bear winner at the Berlin Film Festival, meets the Adamant regulars – including punks, poets and social outsiders – on their terms, in an impassioned argument for enlightened mental care.