And If the Body

In the strange new world of neurotechnology, the physical and the virtual begin to blur. A meditation on the disrupted body, and its re-enchantment.

A few patients recall in brief the accident that robbed them of the use of their bodies, as electrodes and various devices are attached to their damaged limbs, with the aim of restoring movement. ‘I miss me,’ says one of the patients, who was once a keen sportswoman and can no longer walk. Another, older patient regains some control of her legs as she sits on a stationary bike, and suddenly takes flight, transformed into Pegasus in a pixellated, mountainous landscape. Among the tools utilised in the film, virtual reality plays a central role, helping patients regain awareness of their bodies so that they can then regain use of them. It’s a revolutionary technique, but not that revolutionary: watching the patients covered in electrodes and slowly performing movements that are simultaneously modelled on a computer, we are reminded of Etienne-Jules Marey’s athletic test subjects who were equipped with almost identical devices. And if the body…? Cinema starts with this question, which, like cinema itself, is as much a matter of science as it is of magic. Such a title is apt for a film that brings together the cold efficiency of laboratories and the beguiling vapour of the imagination.

Jérôme Momcilovic