Transmettre à et pour des enfants en détresse. Observations à partir de films institutionnels autour de la Seconde Guerre mondiale

Questions of transmission have been addressed by psychiatrists through clinical film recordings since the pioneering work by René A. Spitz (1887–1974). These films screen child behavior in clinical situations exploring forms and structures of parent-child transmission. Departing from clinical teaching film addressed to professional audiences, the present contribution turns to films of universal distribution and in particular the film A child went forth by the American film director Joseph Losey (USA, 1940, 26 min), investigating transmission to and for children around WWII. An early expression of Losey's fascination with alternate perspectives of childhood and education, his documentary is sold to the US government and adapted to include security statements for families threatened by war. The film becomes a document of state information in a time where family structures could potentially be disrupted by mobilization or through non-return from war. The inquiry about the film invites a threefold level of analysis: first transmission to the children; second transmission between professionals; and third transmission to the general public referring to information and propaganda. In contrast to clinical teaching films recording children as patients, documentary film, as an object and as a vector addressed to a general public, opens another venue for observation and analysis of adult-child transmission from the widest possible perspective.