Description

Spring 1970, Clermont Val d'Oise Psychiatric Hospital, France. Dr Keller, an autocratic and charismatic psychiatrist, much influenced by the heady events of May '68, decides to enlist his patients in a terrorist adventure. Keller entrusts the challenging task of documenting this radical adventure to schizophrenic patient, Jean-Charles Gauthier, who believes he is in fact the German filmmaker, Leni Riefenstahl. Gauthier, an eyewitness collaborator, films the group of revolutionaries as each strange and innovative phase of their coup evolves. In less than a fortnight an unstoppable chain reaction of events unfolds in front of Gauthier's lens: firstly, Dr Keller advises his patients to stop taking their medication, next he morphs the patient's afternoon drawing workshop into a political faction meeting, similarly the pottery session is transformed into an explosives master-class, and live firearms are distributed at the Easter Sunday party. The chain of events climaxes when Keller and his co-conspirators (the patients) escape the confines of the hospital with the aim of blowing up President Pompidou's summer residence