Softly, softly:

Louis Theroux (above right) takes a softly-softly stance to get women to open up about their battles with anorexia. James Rampton reports.

Women open up about their struggles with anorexia.

Over his 20-year career, British documentary-maker Louis Theroux has been in some deeply dispiriting places – the Miami Mega Jail, anyone? But few have been quite as depressing as the hospital wards he frequents in his latest film Talking To Anorexia.

Attempting to learn more about the pathological fear of eating and gaining weight – which is now the most deadly mental illness in the UK – Theroux spends time with anorexic patients in two of London’s largest adult eating-disorder treatment facilities – St Ann’s Hospital and Vincent Square Clinic.

Anorexia now afflicts one in every 250 women at some point in their lives. The number of people being hospitalised with the condition has grown alarmingly and many patients are finding it very hard to recover fully.

Being diagnosed with the eating disorder can sometimes lead to a struggle which lasts a lifetime.

At St Ann’s Hospital and Vincent Square Clinic, Theroux talks to women of all ages and at different points of their illness. He observes their enforced daily routine of scheduled eating, weigh-ins and group therapy sessions

The longer Theroux spends on the wards, the more aware he becomes of the potentially lethal hold the eating disorder has over these patients. Some of them are not certain if they can recover properly – or even want to.

Theroux witnesses the complicated, sometimes dangerous relationship between the illness and the person gripped by it.

What helps a great deal in Talking To Anorexia is that Theroux is a masterly interviewer.

His softly-softly approach tends to elicit far more than a more confrontational style would.

It is often the simplest questions that have the most impact.

Theroux alludes to films he has made about another serious illness.

“For example, recently I’ve been doing shows about alcohol addiction.

“With addiction, the question is simply, ‘It seems like your way forward is very clear. There’s a fork in the road, and if you stop drinking, you can have a sober life in which you will be healthy, happy, and form stable relationships.

“Then there’s another path which you keep drinking and everything falls to pieces. That seem so obvious, so why can’t you do it?’ That’s really the only question, in a sense.

“I’m saying what’s so obvious, but sometimes it’s the obvious questions that people trip up on because they try to be intelligent or analytical.

“Actually it’s more about asking a really simple question and giving people the space to answer it.”

Theroux, 48, requires all those interviewing skills in Talking To Anorexia as he tackles the highly complex psychological issues associated with the condition.

For instance, he meets the already very thin Jess who does 2000 star jumps a day to lose further weight. Theroux also encounters Janet, who has been struggling with anorexia for more than four decades. She can suck a single boiled sweet for a whole week. In addition, he talks to Rosie who confesses that she gets a buzz from starving herself. She acknowledges that she was “in denial” about the extent of her illness until the moment where the very act of walking became a physical challenge. The day she finally admitted herself to the hospital, doctors informed her she was very close to a terminal state. “If I hadn’t come in that day, I could have died,” she tells Theroux. “I was nearly at cardiac arrest.” Getting so close to these troubled souls is a difficult area for a documentary maker who must retain a certain sense of objectivity to do his work. Theroux accepts it is sometimes hard when you make friends with the subjects of your films. “There is a little element of ambiguity in the sense that you get to inhabit quite an intimate space with someone – especially films about people who have life-threatening conditions – and it’s a very personal and human story. “At the same time, I think it’s understood that you’re there to do a job. But it can be a little tricky.” Above all, what Talking To Anorexia showcases is Theroux’ ability to get people to open up to him – and, in turn, to us. “I’m not that comfortable doing polemic or being strident. It’s not me. “I think what I’m good at is getting to know people, and trying to build a relationship over a few weeks and trying to get to the truth.”

“It’s more about asking a really simple question and giving people the space to answer it.” – Louis Theroux