Synopsis
Fragments of poems, readings, texts, excerpts from plays, songs, and reflections, pieced together like a patchwork quilt. What’s the purpose of medications, electroshock therapy, institutions? What if all of it only serves to suppress rebellion? What’s the purpose of psychiatry and our prejudices, the daily responses… to those women we label as mad?
A word from Tënk
With Les mots/maux du silence, Helen Doyle takes a poetic look at women's mental health and creativity, telling the story of women artists, witches, and creators who experienced asylums, and for some, electroshock therapy and rehabilitation after a stay in psychiatry. In this film, shot over three years, Helen Doyle intimately explores the connections between creativity and madness and dares to ask, "What is psychiatry for?" This creative documentary highlights the voices of rebellious women artists like Pol Pelletier and Marie Cardinal, featuring excerpts from their works—an artistic choice and political act against the silencing of women’s words whose voices disturb the established order. “They unknowingly fuel the power stations of our resistance,” says writer Claudette Charbonneau-Tissot, known by her pen name Aude. This film, crafted by Helen Doyle like a patchwork quilt, is, like all her films, an act of poetic resistance and a unique, sensitive look at the condition of women.
Lisa Sfriso
Filmmaker, teacher and programmer
