HOMELESS, THE DEPTHS OF PARIS | M6 | Enquête Exclusive

Paris, the city of light, conceals in its shadows the most vulnerable of its homeless. Men and women, who plunge ever deeper in order to survive. Parking garages, sewers, security tunnels, basements of shopping malls… are their last refuge. They are also the operational field of a police force that is unique in the world: the BAPSA, the Support for the Homeless Division. For a year we lived alongside some twenty of these homeless persons forgotten by the world. We made some striking, touching and often chilling acquaintances. Alain begs all day long. At night, he disappears into the Metro once the gates are closed. To avoid disappearing into the underground spaces of the world is the battle waged by Marie-Jose, Michel and their five children. Financially up against the wall, they’ve been living in the woods for the last two months. Teetering between the upper and lower worlds, they fight daily to retain their dignity. As for Sebastien, he has accepted loneliness in the face of poverty. However, he is not completely alone… A former drug addict, the public hospital supplies him with a companion: Methadone. Like him, many of the homeless are drug addicts or alcoholics. Others are sick. 70% of the homeless suffer from psychiatric disorders. Maximilien is schizophrenic. A confirmed Royalist, he pours out his delirious fantasies daily at the end of his tunnel. How does one come to burying oneself underground, beneath the world? Who are these invisible people? Along with them, come dive into the shadowy depths of the Republic and discover the other face of one of the most beautiful cities in the world.