While we are all confronted with our body’s limitations sooner or later, Zoé Chantre has more to contend with than most, having been diagnosed with scoliosis, the abnormal curvature of the spine, as a child. Her resultant sense of corporeal disassociation forms the crux of TIENS MOI DROITE, a scrapbook-like audiovisual diary of her search to find words to fit her symptoms and visual expression for her condition. Proceeding chronologically from her diagnosis, Chantre playfully splices together pencil sketches of bodies and body parts, medical diagrams and images and film footage to create a rich seam of visual, linguistic and sonic associations. Her spine becomes a whirlwind, the Colonne de Juillet or a staircase, towers of computer hard disks replace the hard intervertebral discs she lacks in her back, and the sensation of being squeezed together like an accordion is taken up by accordion music on the soundtrack. As her focus gently broadens to explore the physical challenges faced by those around her, her chains of association eventually lead to acceptance and even love for her twisted spine: the realisation that, despite our physical imperfections, we all still end up getting by. (James Lattimer)
Production: Les Films de l’Astrophore, Paris
Screenplay, Camera: Zoé Chantre
Format: DigiBeta, colour
Running time: 65 min
Language: French
Tiens moi droite
Keep Me Upright
Zoé Chantre
France 2012
