Our Productions

Magazine 120′

Alcoholism has an impact on more than a fourth of all French families. Those who want to stop drinking feel trapped, dependent on, and chained to the bottle. How can they conquer this insatiable and destructive compulsion to drink?
There are the classic methods: detoxification programs, medication. But 80% of the afflicted fall off the wagon during the first year of sobriety. One French physician, Dr. Olivier Ameisen, tells how he was definitely cured of his own alcoholism thanks to a drug, “Baclofen”, originally intended for another medical purpose.

Science has proven that to be an alcoholic is to be truly ill. This is not only a question of will power: medication is necessary to re-establish a damaged equilibrium. Research is making progress towards an array of treatments, adapted to the special needs of each patient.
To bring this new hope of curing the addiction to a personal level, we followed the daily battle of four patients struggling to be free of alcohol addiction.

Working with Elise Lucet, artists (François Cluzet), celebrities (Hervé Chabalier), anonymous patients, and experts: two clinical practitioners and one scientist will give their reasons for hope that they can win the battle against alcohol dependence.

Produced by Effervescence for France 2 in 2009