Retour
Hubert Dubois
2003 - 53 min - 16 mm - Couleur - France
15-year-old Deborah has been afflicted from birth with Moebius Syndrome. This incurable genetic disease paralyses the facial muscles. She cannot smile, nor move her lips when she speaks and has a fixed stare. Deborah is no longer a child that love alone can protect. She must cope with her handicap alone and build her life. In an exchange of letters with Paule, a woman forty years her senior who has the same disease, Deborah describes her daily battle against isolation.
This subjective, intimate and committed correspondence takes us through six months in Deborah's life. And if Deborah is forthright with Paule, it's not merely because they share the "same disease and the same ups and downs that come with it..."
It is also because both know better than anyone else that withdrawal into one's self is even more unbearable than their handicap. It is no doubt this conviction that allows them to give us access to their letters with no regard to propriety
Author-Director : Hubert Dubois
Author : Stéphane Munka
Photography : Camille Dubois, Hubert Dubois
Sound : Khaled Senoussi
Editing : Jean-Antoine Boyer
Original Music : Hubert Dubois
Delegate Producer : Galaxie Presse
Co-producer : France 2
Broadcasting Co-producer : France 3 Alsace