Paul


synopsis

A young man named Paul suffers from depression and social anxiety. As part of his self- therapy, he discovers that cleaning his apartment improves his mental state. He starts with his own apartment, and after a while he offers his services to other people, specifically female dominatrixes who in return are able to satisfy his submissive needs. He records his progress on his Instagram channel, but it gains new followers too quickly, which causes Paul to feel anxious again… This unconventional personality portrait offers us a new perspective on depression, a disability that must first be accepted and then learned to live with in one's own way.

“It worked right away. He started cleaning – badly – and began having new, intimate relationships with women.” — Benjamin Hollis, Documentary Weekly

biography

Denis Côté (born 1973) is a Canadian filmmaker who alternates between feature films and documentaries in his work. He often works with minimal production budgets and creates films at a rapid pace. Thematically, he focuses on social outsiders. Audiences in Jihlava have already had the opportunity to see his short film cnfnmnt e/scp(i)sm (2020).

film details

director:	Denis Côté
producer:	Denis Côté, Hany Ouichou, Karine Bélanger
script:	Denis Côté
photography:	Vincent Biron, François Messier-Rheault
editing:	Terence Chotard
music:	Chantale Morin
sound:	Terence Chotard, Stéphane Bergeron