"I don’t like changing my habits, I always check things a thousand times, I don’t really like people, I’m too direct, I’m hyper-sensitive to light and sounds, I’m often exhausted and I don’t understand subtle humour." For Katia, the thirty-year-old protagonist of Her Difference, which is the 4th feature film by Lola Doillon (revealed in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section in 2007 via Et toi, t’es sur qui ? [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]), released at the end of June in France and screening today in the Festival do Rio (as part of the European Film Promotion’s Europe! Voices of Women+ in Film initiative), everyday life, both person and professional, isn’t and never has been a walk in the park. And for good reason: this young woman has autism, but she doesn’t know it, because she’s always somehow managed to adapt and mask what psychologists have consistently labelled as depression and anxiety, which no medicines have ever managed to overcome.

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In tackling this delicate subject –previously explored in a variety of movies (notably the very famous Rain Man) - without sliding into full-on drama nor off-the-wall comedy, Lola Doillon makes clear her desire to lend visibility and to inform on France’s flawed approach to supporting people with autism. And the filmmaker (who also penned the screenplay) does this by following in the wake of Katia (the brilliant Jehnny Beth), who’s a researcher in an audiovisual production company based in Nantes, a role for which she’s vastly overqualified (to the great regret of her mother, played by Mireille Perrier). A chance encounter with some autism specialists triggers a desire within Katia to dig deeper, and when she learns about the symptoms of this disorder, impacting how people communicate and interact with their environment, they strike a deep chord with her.

By focusing on the romantic relationship unfolding between Katia and Fred (played by likeable Belgian actor Thibaut Evrard), the film lends a human and "light-hearted" dimension to an incredibly serious subject, and shines a highly detailed spotlight on the autism spectrum (the feeling that you’re performing when interacting with anyone other than loved ones and that you’re not being authentic, the lack of a social life, the painful impossibility of "small talk", the need to stay at home in a reassuring space and to maintain strict routines because anxiety over the unexpected can hit hard, a huge appetite for knowledge, directness…). It’s an educational and non-judgemental approach which sets the film apart, but the structured nature of the story is also its Achilles heel. How can Katia express her love? What approach can she take to get her loved ones to accept her diagnosis ("I accept your antisocial side, but there are limits. You can’t go through life as a total recluse, as if other people don’t even exist")? Should she hide it from the world or own her reality openly? And what about having children, given the risk of passing on the condition? All these questions and more are examined with benevolence and a level of optimism (other people are loving) without ever concealing the inevitable day-to-day difficulties and the inner loneliness involved. But, as the film stresses, relief finally comes when she can put a name to her strange behaviour and finally feel like herself.

Her Difference was produced by Ping & Pong Productions and Agat Films. Be For Films are handling world sales.