Review of Keith Allen`s Tourette De France

Introduction

John Davidson burst onto the scene when starring in the documentary `John`s Not Mad` in 1989. Designed to raise awareness of the then little-known Tourette`s syndrome, his outrageous and unfortunately amusing behaviour turned him into a cult character. Now a mature adult, he formed Tourette`s Scotland, an organisation to help other Scots with this condition and take them on trips. He was approached by Keith Allen to make a documentary about one of these trips, in which the members of Tourette`s Scotland would travel to Paris and visit the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital where the condition was first diagnosed. Travelling on an old London Routemaster bus, driven by a Ghanaian called Dickson, leaves the journey open to mechanical problems and unintentional racist comments.

Tourette`s is a perfect example of the fine line between tragedy and comedy: people yelling expletives in the street is funny, but undoubtedly embarrassing and traumatic for the sufferers and their families.

Broadcast on Channel 4 on January 11th 2007, the documentary is available on DVD only three months later.

Video

Presented in the broadcast ratio of anamorphic 1.78:1, this looks very good, with good colour definition and contrast. It was filmed with two cameras, allowing for both participants in an interview to be filmed at the same time; this is an interesting technique that works well, however, you frequently see the other cameraman, the boom mike, or the film being filmed.

Audio

The DD 2.0 stereo soundtrack is also broadcast quality and very clear. There are no subtitles, but obscenities and bizarre outbursts are often accompanied by flashes of the word on-screen, for emphasis.

Keith Allen`s narration is very easy to listen to and it is both funny and informative; at one point the film cuts away to him recording it, which is interesting and amusing.

Features

There are 24 additional scenes, which are either extended scenes that were cut down for the finished article, or scenes that were omitted in their entirety. They vary in interest and quality, but one in particular (`We are not racist`), in which John explains the condition to Dickson for ten minutes, is extremely informative.

The stills gallery consists of just over two minutes of photos from the tour.

There are trailers for `John`s Not Mad` and `Little Lady Fauntleroy`, narrated by Keith Allen and also available on DVD from Fabulous Films.

The `Tourette Scotland Info` is exactly that.

Conclusion

Due to the nature of Tourette`s syndrome, it is very easy to laugh at the sufferers, rather than with them. Keith Allen wanted to find out what makes John `tick`, but discovered much more about John and Tourette`s than he imagined. Spending time with others with Tourette`s allows each member of Tourette`s Scotland to relax and not feel embarrassed about `ticking`, whether verbally or physically.

This is a funny, informative and enjoyable documentary, and one that may have attracted a mainstream audience when shown on TV. Given the brief running time and relatively high RRP, the DVD is clearly aimed at a niche audience: those with, or involved with, Tourette`s.