A young woman with crippling OCD confronts her worst fears head-on to save the day for her sister in this intimate, composed, and surprisingly emotional short film from five animation students at GOBELINS in Paris.

Directors Laurine Baille, Gabriel Gérard, Lise Légier, Chloé Maingé, and Claire Sun: “We initially got curious about OCD, and thought it would make a great film subject as there are visual signs of the disorder.

“While OCD has a very specific mechanism, we believe that the anxiety and distress this disorder causes is something we all know and can relate to.

“We did a lot of internet research, read a lot of articles, watched interviews and documentaries. We also interviewed three people diagnosed with OCD. The three of them had completely different types of OCD. It made us understand that each person had their own experience with OCD and none of them were alike.

OCD, like many mental illnesses, is invisible, and hard to understand to an uninformed person, which is why we wanted to make the invisible visible.

“We chose to represent OCD in two ways in the film. Firstly, we have intrusive thoughts in the form of black and red, very short and aggressive shots interrupting the narration every time Anna is triggered by something.

“Secondly, as Anna’s anxiety grows, her obsessions start to take the form of monsters following her, and growing, as she gives in to her compulsions, such as counting, touching objects, following a regular rhythm.

“However, by the end, when she manages to get out of the monsters, the monsters don’t disappear, they just get calmer. There is, unfortunately, no magic solution to solve something like OCD, it’s something people live with and learn to deal with.”
 

 
School: GOBELINS, l’école de l’image
Director: Laurine Baille, Gabriel Gérard, Lise Légier, Chloé Maingé, Claire Sun

Soundtrack: Arthur Daidaine
Sound editor: Cédric Denooz
Mix: Vincent Mauduit, Nathan Robert
Color Grading: David Chantoiseau

Distribution: Miyu Distribution