- I have a protruding ear. Something I get from my mother. It's one of the rare things we have in common. She almost considers it as her own and offered to pay for me to have it stitched back. But what about the rest of my face? Where does it come from? Maybe I'm not the only one trying to find answers in my fathers' features.
- How can we reinvent our relationship to recognition? "The Bat ear" questions the question of transmission and belonging through the prism of physical resemblance. Because deep down, Lucie Szechter can see that this protruding ear is her mother's. But the rest of her face, whose is it?—Lucie Szechter
- Our physical appearance is the most visible, the most accessible element for anyone watching us. However, it is the result of long family stories, love stories, accidents. It is common to hear around a cradle: "he has the eyes of his father" or "it's amazing how she looks like her mother". Where does this human propensity to look in each of us for the physical resemblance that betrays filiation, identity? It's almost a commonplace, but obviously it can sometimes touch something very intimate. "The Bat ear" questions the question of transmission, belonging and recognition through the prism of physical resemblance. For this, Lucie Szechter uses her own story as a starting point to better reach the others and collect their stories. To start from the infinitely small and observe the links that bind us and sometimes divide us at the level of a family, a couple or in our collective imaginations in regards to the resemblance. Because deep down, she can see that this protruding ear is her mother's. But the rest of her face, whose is it? This film will follow a very intimate travel through those questions until switching toward a larger and more political : assisted reproduction, adoption, racism, eugenics, etc. With the participation of the well known French philosopher François Noudelmann, the geneticist Catherine Bourgain but also participation of ordinary people sharing their own testimonies. Finally, Lucie Szechter will decide if she still want to live with her bat ear or not. The ex-voto may be able to overcome the problems caused by social constructions in her real life.
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