A sensitive and very personal portrait of Sabine Bonnaire, the autistic younger sister of French actress Sandrine Bonnaire.
Sabine is a 38-year-old whose autism went undiagnosed for decades and whose vivacious character was almost destroyed through years of inadequate care. Using footage filmed at Sabine's current care home as well as 25 years of home movies, Sandrine paints a picture of her sister as a once independent young woman with special needs to an adult now in need of constant supervision. The contrast between the young girl and the dispirited woman five years later is a terrible and moving indictment of state institutions and the effects of misdiagnosis. Now in a care home in the Charente region, Sabine has found a new lease of life thanks to proper care and the unwavering support of her family and friends.
As a girl, despite her unusual behaviour, Sabine would play with her siblings and take part in their games. She first attended a school for "abnormal" children but in fact had a great many abilities, including being able to read and write. At the age of 12 she was enrolled in the same school as Sandrine, but stood out as being different and suffered taunting by the other kids. She became self-destructive, biting and scratching herself and removing her clothes in the playground. With no specialised schools available, she then remained at home until the age of 27, during which years she was highly creative both in crafts and studies. Also developing a love for music, she took lessons for piano and very soon was playing Schubert and Bach. Sabine was always very close to her siblings but as they left home one by one she was left alone with her mother in the Parisian suburbs. Her sisters would visit her regularly and organise special outings for her. She became independent, able to go places on her own; she was cheerful, full of laughter and life. Sandrine then made Sabine's dream of America come true by taking her on a visit to New York.
When Sabine's mother moved from Paris to the country the sisters were able to visit less frequently. Sabine became isolated, and feeling abandoned, gradually began to decline, becoming destructive and violent towards her mother. Her sisters took her for a while in order to give their mother a break but Sabine continued to be violent and disruptive in each of the sisters' family homes. As a result, Sabine was sent to a psychiatric hospital for diagnosis, while the family searched in vain for a specialised home in which she could receive professional care. Sandrine eventually rented a flat close by where she installed Sabine with two home nurses. This arrangement, however, did not last and Sabine returned to the hospital where she stayed for five years. As her anxiety grew worse and she began self-mutilating, she was restrained and given high doses of neuroleptics. With her memory almost gone and her weight increasing by 30kg, Sabine's physical condition and mental faculties deteriorated further until she was unable to look after herself.
In 2001, Sandrine heard about a centre in Charente. While there were no places available, she met with the director who was seeking desperately to open a new home. Sandrine's fame as an actress was instrumental in gaining the necessary funding to eventually create the new home where Sabine still lives today. Now diagnosed as psychoinfantile with autistic behaviour, the treatment she receives is vastly improving her quality of life and it is hoped that the damage resulting from years of being institutionalised can eventually be repaired.
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