On/Off (2017)

Overview

Many people live out their final days inside of a hospital, and in France, intensive-care personnel are becoming society's undertakers. Going behind the closed doors of an intensive care unit, this project uncovers the rhythms of daily life for health-care professionals. As it moves through their routines, their atmosphere and their conversations, it immerses viewers in the intense demands of confronting and “managing” death on a day-to-day basis. In France, we die in hospital, often in intensive care. Why ? Because this highly technical discipline concentrates the last hopes of our civilization which no longer wants to die. Caregivers, despite being trained to save lives, are on the way to becoming the undertakers of our society. This is not without consequence. By staging their words, their daily lives in the service, our project tells of the difficult confrontation with the end of life by the caregivers who manage it every day.