Science, medicine and quackery are at stake in art

An old movie based on an old play that satirizes human credulity and the exploitation that is carried out in the name of science, but also the medical discourse that predisposes to disease, to the point of achieving victory over the quackery of science.

by Muhammad Sadeq Legari *

I just watched the movie ”Methods” On the French Parliamentary Channel. It is an adaptation of a popular satirical play of the same name by academic Jules Romans. This is the story of Nock, a new doctor who has settled in Saint-Maurice, a small French village.

He succeeds Dr. Barbalide, a courageous and honest physician who practices in a priestly manner, but is… customer base rare.

After offering free consultations on Monday mornings, Dr. Nock succeeds in winning the loyalty of a slew of clients by making a diagnosis that, each time, would make the greatest optimists turn pale and owe him debt. “clients” For long-term treatment until they have to come back and pay for the consultations. He even manages to convince his predecessor, Dr. Barbalide, that a troubling disease is eating him.

A satire of human naivety

This brilliant adaptation of this play to a Mollerician tone is a satire on human naivety and exploitation performed in the name of science, but also on the medical discourse that predisposes to disease. Knock even managed to make quackery science win (some countries still exist!).

This film owes all its strength to the masterful interpretation of the great Louis Jouvet, a school of theater and cinema in his own right, but also and above all to the brilliant text of Jules Romans, brilliantly funny and wonderfully written, at the same time sardonic, piquant, and in language that seems, alas, to belong to the past forever.

I have a special affection for ”Methods”It’s a play I read when I was in college. But in this age, we do not understand all the genius of literary works. In addition, my Facebook friends who teach French to younger generations can recommend the play and film to their students.

tickle and scratch

Some scenes, like the one in which Dr. Knock explains in a serious, literate tone, are not to be confused with “tickle” And the “Itch”, is a pure delight. Some quotes have been passed on to future generations:

“You can imagine that people who pay eight francs for a consultation don’t like being told about a four-dollar treatment.

It is their fault to sleep, in deceptive safety, from which the lightning bolt of illness wakes them up too late.

Give me a canton of a few thousand people, neutral and indefinite. My role is to identify them and bring them into the medical presence.

And the famous:

Every healthy man who is ill does not know him.

The film linked here is available on Youtube.

*collectors.