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Patients

Patients

Representation Score

8.2/10

Excellent

2017

Director

Mehdi Idir, Grand Corps Malade

Runtime

110 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

Patients centers on the detailed, often difficult aspects of rehabilitation, such as holding a fork, which are often overlooked in cinema. By doing so, it grants characters genuine ability to act and avoids superficial clichés. The film’s narrative structure prioritizes the lived experience of neuro-physical diversity over conventional heroic narratives. This approach allows for a deep exploration of despair, impotence, and eventual hope within a communal context. While the film excels in representing disability, it offers less explicit focus on specific LGBTQ+ or gendered arcs. However, its overarching theme of breaking social barriers provides a meaningful, humanistic perspective on identity.

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Category Breakdown

Does Patients have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film highlights the shared experience of physical trauma and rehabilitation among its characters. Although it doesn't focus specifically on LGBTQ+ identities, the emphasis on collective struggle creates a space where non-traditional social structures can emerge.

How does Patients portray gender?

Fair

The movie emphasizes the shared human condition of disability rather than traditional gender roles. It redefines strength through psychological resilience instead of physical dominance, offering a fresh perspective on what it means to be strong.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Patients?

Good

Set in a French rehabilitation center, the film likely showcases a diverse European population. By emphasizing shared suffering, it deconstructs ethnic distinctions and promotes a unified identity among its characters.

How does Patients represent religion and culture?

Good

The story critiques the systemic pressures to conform to able-bodied norms and capitalist standards of productivity. It portrays the characters' lived realities as valid existences outside traditional social hierarchies.

Does Patients include disability representation?

Excellent

The film excels in its portrayal of the struggles faced by quadriplegics and paraplegics. It avoids the cliché of 'inspiration porn' by presenting the authentic, often frustrating reality of living with physical limitations.

Present on Screen

  • Exceptional portrayal of disability that grants characters genuine ability to act while avoiding clichés.
  • Humanistic narrative that prioritizes psychological resilience over physical dominance.
  • Critique of societal standards that marginalize individuals based on physical utility.

Limited or Absent

  • Lack of explicit focus on specific LGBTQ+ character arcs or identities.
  • Limited detail regarding specific gendered experiences within the ensemble cast.

Official Synopsis

After a serious sport accident in a swimming pool, Ben, now an incomplete quadriplegic, arrives in a rehabilitation center. He meets with other handicapped persons (tetraplegics, paraplegics, traumatized crania), all victims of accidents, as well as a handicapped since his early childhood. They go through impotence, despair and resignation, with their daily struggle to learn how to move a finger or to hold a fork. Some of them slowly find a little mobility while others receive the verdict of the handicap for life. Despite everything, hope and friendship help them endure their difficulties.

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