Naomi's Corset | Video

Synopsis At age ten, Naomi faces one of the most trying times in her life. As a result of severe scoliosis (spine curvature), she is forced to wear a stiff orthopedic corset 23 hours a day. Diagnosed at infancy with Williams Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, Naomi is especially sensitive to extreme emotional and physical situations. Facing the audience she expresses her thoughts candidly; ‘The worst thing is the corset; so, watch out doctors, I can be very tough with you…’ Naomi and her father Gérard, an accomplished artist, decide to make a film about the corset with the hope of alleviating her anxieties. For over two years the camera follows Naomi: she shares her innermost feelings, poses and dances, studies, travels, and finally enters into the operating theater where she undergoes extensive spine surgery. Naomi’s Corset combines day-to-day documentation, stills, X-rays and true accounts of medical procedures, juxtaposing “cinéma vérité” and “video art”. This complex and provocative filmmaking transforms a father-daughter relationship from the private to the public sphere.