Starting from Sophie Chiarello’s documentary The Circle, the author proposes a reflection on the “circle” device, placing it in dialogue with several theoretical asso-ciations. The film’s protagonists are a group of children from a primary school in the Esquiline district, a multicultural neighborhood. This group, though embedded in an educational context and lacking therapeutic goals, is viewed as a relational space capable of activating processes of symbolization, emotional transformation, and the construction of shared thought. The theoretical concepts referenced are Foulkes’s group matrix, Winnicott’s transitional space, and Kaës’s pluripsychic apparatus. The continuity of this device over time fosters the construction of group memory and the ability to manage conflict. The class group thus appears as a communicative organ-ism capable of a relational “knowledge” that supports individual growth through bonding.
References
Ciusa M.E. (2017). Maria Lai. Il filo dell’esistere / The Thread of Existence. Sas-sari: Carlo Delfino Editore.
Kaës R. (1976). L’appareil psychique groupal. Costructions du group. Paris: Bor-das/Dunod (trad. it.: L’apparato pluripsichico. Costruzioni del gruppo. Roma: Armando, 1983).
Foulkes S.H. (1975). Group-Analytic Psychotherapy. Method and Principles. Lon-don: Gordon and Breach (trad. it.: La psicoterapia gruppoanalitica. Metodo e Principi. Roma: Astrolabio Ubaldini, 1976).
Foulkes S.H. e Anthony E.J. (1957). Group Psychotherapy. The Psychoanalytical Approach. London: Penguin Books (trad. it.: L’approccio psicoanalitico alla psicoterapia di gruppo. Roma: Ed. Universitarie Romane, 1998).
Winnicott D.W. (1971). Playing and Reality. London: Tavistock (trad. it.: Gioco e Realtà. Roma: Armando, 1974)
