Ecchymoses

The infirmary of this junior school in the Jura never empties whether it’s for a light scratch or a deeper wound, the imaginary illness to escape a test or painful periods. Yet although the school yard may at times resemble a fashion show for crutches and walking sticks, the care that Annick has to dispense involves first and foremost the blues of the soul, and wounds to the heart: anorexia, bulimia, suicide attempts, fear of pregnancy, brain tumours, running away from home, rape, a father’s death. And it needs confidence and unshakeable optimism to put a little colour back into these lives inhabited by anxiety, boredom and rebellion. Seen from the infirmary, the tranquil river of school life deep in the countryside greenery quickly turns into a torrent of torment, fear and suffering, where under the veneer of a Republican education the true face of adolescence surges up. Yann Lardeau