For several years now in France, doctors have been addressing the subject of pain, a subject for a long time shrugged off, but a subject now at the centre of an increasing number of conferences. Attitudes and mentalities change, however there are several types of pain and some simply cannot be treated. It is the human and psychological reality of pain that the film by Caroline Philibert sets out to show: on one side, the nameless suffering of the patient, on the other, the fears and denial it provokes in those nearby, whether family, medical staff or professional associates.