Augustine

Augustine (2012) — watch online on iFILM. A French historical drama and the debut feature of director Alice Winocour, set inside the Belle Époque wards of the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris. Nineteen-year-old Augustine becomes the star patient of Professor Jean-Martin Charcot, a neurologist who stages hypnosis demonstrations for packed lecture halls.

Charcot — played by Vincent Lindon — treats Augustine as evidence. An exhibit. A body that performs on command. Then she starts directing the performance herself. French singer Soko brings an unsettling fragility to the title role; Chiara Mastroianni appears in support. A sharp debut about medicine as a form of control and one woman who finds a way to work the system from within. Stream Augustine online on iFILM.