This week, Amélie Bonnin opened the Cannes festival with “Leaving a day” – a funny and sensitive short film, carried by Juliette Armanet. This film, like so many others (untouchables, our happy days, a little thing in addition, the fabulous destiny of Amélie Poulain …) are what are called “feel good movies”. In other words, works whose effects are not limited to projection time. Amélie Boukhobza, clinical psychologist, analyzes the impact left by these films … endorphins.
Works that give a smile
It is science that says it! Going to see a happy, optimistic, moving film can help you get better. This phenomenon is called “cinematherapy” phenomenon.
“A fanfare, a little extra thing, the Aries family, untouchables, the meaning of the party and so on … These films that are called” feel good movies “fill the rooms. And above all: they do us good. Not just at the moment, but durably”, Assures Amélie Boukhobza.
Indeed, they would seem to act as a real “antidote” in a world full of greyness.
“They offer a moment of respite in the tumult. They warm up. They allege. They reconnect that there are simplest and more human: laughter, tenderness, solidarity, hope”, indicates the practitioner. But not only! “”They also talk about us. Small things of everyday life, clumsiness, family ties, improbable friendships, ordinary galleys. We project ourselves. We recognize ourselves. They talk about what we live, basically, all. They tell life without great effects, but with a real look at humans. And it touches. “
A real cocktail of endorphins
If watching a horror film increases adrenaline in our brain, the “feel good” films, they rather trigger the release of dopamine (a type of neurotransmitter that intervenes in the reward system) and endorphins (also called Hormones of Happiness). These works put us in a good mood and provide a feeling of comfort.
“Positive” emotions that are not due to chance, according to our psychologist.
“Neuroscience confirms this: a positive emotion triggered by a film active certain areas of the brain linked to pleasure, but also to the regulation of stress. It is like a little emotional reset. We come a little lighter, a little more open”, Confirms Amélie Boukhobza. “”And sometimes even, a little more ready to do otherwise. To reconcile, to get a smile. “
Finally, in the cinema, laughing at throat deployed with other roommates can move and strengthen the idea that we belong to a group.
“Laugh or be moved together, in a dark room, with others, creates a little something in addition. A form of collective comfort … that the platforms cannot reproduce”, the practitioner still says. “So these films may not change life but they change the mood. And it’s already a lot!”, concludes the practitioner.