‘Our Body’ is an ambitious documentarian survey of the gynaecology ward in a Parisian hospital. In the hands of the ever so relevant Claire Simon, this investigation is the opposite of intrusive: as various women cross the threshold of the doctor’s office, a space of empathy, of sisterhood even, begins to form all around the camera. Simon’s film is more than a Wisemanian intervention seeking to reveal an institution’s functioning mechanism. Given the inevitable intimacy – few things are more precious and private than one’s own body – the image allows for a multifaceted perspective on femininity today and the ways in which it is defined or reinvents itself in contact with social norms and hard science. From births to gender reassignments, ‘Our Body’ is revelatory, illuminating a dimension of existence where men are at best a comforting presence, an accompaniment, a second-class character. Stepping herself in front of the camera, Claire Simon creates a relationship of equality between her and the female patients. Far from delivering moralising slogans, this is revealed as the minimal condition for the experience of filming to become a lucid form of therapy. (Victor Morozov)