Saved by a sister's love - Film - Arts - Evening Standard
       

Saved by a sister's love

Critic Rating
Reader Rating 0

Few films about disability are as good as this. Directed by French actress Sandrine Bonnaire and focusing on Sabine, her autistic younger sister, the documentary is much more than simply informative. It is beautifully made, deeply affecting and totally in tune with the independence of mind shown by Sabine herself.

This may be a film about Sabine - which includes her happier adolescence, her eventual diagnosis and what then happened to her - but it is also a film that Sabine helps to shape herself.

By respecting her sister's intelligence, Sandrine discovers through her the perils of institutionalisation, the dulling effect of the drugs mentally challenged patients are often given, the anxiety many of them feel about the world at large and the deep fear many have of abandonment.

The result is the opposite of depressing since Sabine, after five years in an institution, is moved to a home for those with mental and physical disabilities funded through her sister's influence. There she is treated one-to-one with sensitive attention and no drugs. The result is there for all to see. This is a film that should be widely shown, both for Sandrine's excellence as a film-maker and for Sabine herself.

Her Name Is Sabine

Comments

Don't Miss
Gala night for the Queen of arts - stars turn out in their hundreds to pay tribute

Happy & glorious

Stars turn out in their hundreds to pay tribute to Queen
Prints charming: patterned trousers for summer

Prints charming

Patterned trousers for summer
Promethipedia: the lowdown on Ridley Scott's new blockbuster Prometheus

Promethipedia

The lowdown on Ridley Scott's new blockbuster Prometheus
The Middletan: Kate Middleton has the most requested tan in London

The Middletan

Kate Middleton has the most requested tan in London
Amy Childs bares all like Britney

Dare to bare

Amy Childs vajazzles like Britney
Thais go Gaga: singer’s ‘fake rolex’ tweet sparks new tour row... but fans still mob her at airport

Thais go Gaga

Singer mobbed at airport
Trip the bright fantastic - in vertiginous neon

Fashion

Trip the bright fantastic - in vertiginous neon
Chelsea Champions League celebrations - in pictures

Victory parade

Chelsea Champions League celebrations
High-flying heroes

High flying heroes

David Oyelowo reveals all about new film Red Tails
The Twitter Diaries: Think Bridget Jones tries social networking

The Twitter Diaries

Think Bridget Jones tries social networking