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Teenage girls at a public institution which provides psychological treatment and vocational training (an Institut médico-professionnel) are especially fond of the lyrics of popular songs which express their suffering and their hopes. When they sing these songs, they bring forth a hidden, little-known part of themselves which is ignored by their families and only rarely noted by their social workers. The words they sing, so deeply meaningful to them, are sent into the world the way a shipwreck victim would toss a message in a bottle into the sea.