Support The Wall – Le Mur

Print PDF

French Weekly magazine L’Express released on May 24th 2012 a never seen sequence part of the dailies of the documentary “The Wall/Le Mur” of Sophie Robert on autism in France.

On January 26, the judge of the court of Lille censored the documentary with the removal of three plaintiffs’ interviews from the documentary and the case is currently pending appeal.

This never released footage shows psychoanalyst Esthela Solano-Suarez, one of the plaintiffs, during a 7-minute break explaining in depth her views on autism. She explains that “the autism of the child is a consequence of some autism of the mother toward the child”.

The journalist Estelle Saget writes: “Esthela Solano-Suarez take a clearer stand on the responsability of mothers in the autism of their children compared to the sequences chosen in the documentary.” She is surprised that such a strong message was not included in the documentary. Sophie Robert explains that it was not chosen due to technical issues (weak sound). The journalist also writes that according to Me Stefan Squillaci, the lawyer of the filmmaker, this sequence now is part of the appeal memorandum.

Read the L’Express article and watch the exclusive sequence here

This sequence already generated a couple reactions in the blogging community:

For blogger Jean-Louis Racca, this sequence proves the “double language” of the psychoanalysts: one for the public in front of the camera and the other behind closed doors inside the psychoanalytical community.

The autism activist Magali Pignard is not surprised: “which parent will be surprised by the words used by Esthela Solano ? Shocked yes, surprised…No, it’s just routine. She writes : “I am feeling personnally angy… Angry that the French system supports this type of practices still”.