Saint Omer
The central aspect of Gallic film producer Alice Diop ’s fiction - feature debut , Saint Omer , is an abysmal offense : A female parent leave behind her 15 - calendar month - old girl on a beach to be sweep out to sea , result in her end . It is breathe in by a real case that made headlines in France and abroad , the trial for which the music director actually look . While the film is interested in the woman who confide the act , it in the main keep up a character in Diop ’s beholder position , and its driving question is not , as it might ’ve been in other projects , " How does one make any sense of senseless tragedy ? " Instead , Saint Omerasks , " What if an abysmal crimeisn’tso unfathomable after all ? " It is a ponderous line of intellection that leads to no prosperous answer , but which Diop follows anyway , with enveloping , patient spirit . Viewers willing to give it the same , almost spellbound focus the protagonist generate this causa will find it a compelling meditation on thing as wide - ranging as racial otherness , fraught mother - daughter relationships , and the real - humankind slickness of concept like accuracy and judge .
Rama ( Kayije Kagame ) is a professor and novelist of Senegalese descent who travel from Paris to the commune of Saint - Omer for the trial of one Laurence Coly ( Guslagie Malanga ) for infanticide . The commonwealth is taken with this character for its singular characteristics — Laurence , who has confessed , plead not guilty after claiming to have been under the influence of witchery . Rama think to use it as the basis for a new book , disembowel a parallel of latitude to the mythological tale of Medea . But as she listens to Laurence ’s testimonial , she is or else struck by many parallels with her own lifespan . The defendant , a Senegalese immigrant , come up to France to canvass and become an academic . She had a relationshipwith a clean Frenchman , as Rama does , and a difficult chronicle with her mother , as Rama also does . The more of Laurence ’s life is position unornamented , the more Rama find herself able to interpret her , until all that ’s left is the one dreadful conclusion that ’s supposed to be entirely incomprehensible , which makes Rama ’s apprehension about being four - months pregnant all the more troublesome .
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Courtroom dramas are deceptively tricky to organise , as the scope does n’t by nature let for much front , but Diop ’s formal confidence embraces the atmospherics without becoming staid . The tv camera is usually locked in sure place as Laurence and other witnesses are questioned by the Judge ( Valérie Dréville ) , the prosecuting attorney ( Robert Cantarella ) , and the defense attorney , Vaudenay ( Aurélia Petit ) . These conniption play out like recreations of actual transcripts ( those of the real suit did indeed inspire the screenplay ) , save for a few injections of Rama ’s view , but the managing director is not but drawing on her experience as a documentarian . Saint Omerpulls meaning from exact , non - ostentatious selection . The angle at which the camera is place , for example : After first taking Laurence in from a diagonal , it moves to capture her principal - on as Rama ’s empathy for her grows . The moving picture frequently cuts between speaker unit , but rarely on the kickoff of a line , teaching the interview to focus more on how character react than what is being said . These are not feature that can be appreciate passively;Saint Omerrequires its viewing audience ' full tending .
It also requires a great wad from its doer , who as a resultant of this redaction style are given a certain thematic primacy . Take when Laurence ’s former philosophy prof ( Charlotte Clamens ) questions the rigor of her interest in Wittgenstein , because of his distance from her African finish . The photographic camera first captures Laurence ’s response , whose rageful stare melts into something like insecurity and frustration , endanger her determined equanimity . She sits , only to be told by the judge that she must remain stick out ; when she rises again , she is noticeably downcast . Then , as the professor sit back down next to Rama , the camera capture the protagonist ’s sniffy glower , with her own anger simmering underneath body language that remains unhesitating . These dissemble moments from Malanga and Kagame are not only used to prepare their persona , but also muse theimpact of racial prejudiceand systemic subjugation , the existence of which is shown , not secern . Even though the court of law seems uninterested in how Laurence ’s Blackness contributed to the social isolation the test does establish , Saint Omervery much is , and it is through Malanga ’s carrying out that viewers see how being othered , when coupled with her other life challenges , shell Laurence ’s sprightliness in a way it has n’t Rama ’s .
Diop ’s film is n’t without its courtly flourish , particularly when it come to explore Rama ’s childhood memories , but it is more interested in hoard meaningful item than making open , sweeping statement . As beseem its interest in academe , Saint Omerbenefits from study , and audiences will find think on it afterwards turn up new connectedness . For example : Is Rama really identifying with Laurence , to the point where she is force to ideate herself in that impossible scenario ? Or does she see some of Laurence in her female parent , who besides immigrate from Senegal , and wonders how close she came to portion out the baby ’s fate ? Such is the commonwealth of questioningSaint Omerleaves its consultation in that this possibility could disclose itself to a viewer days after they ’ve visualise it ( as is the shell here ) — an meter reading of its caliber as a work of art .
Kayije Kagame in Saint Omer
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Saint Omerreleased in special theaters in the U.S. on January 13 . The film is 122 second farseeing and is rated PG-13 for some thematic component and abbreviated firm language .
Guslagie Malanga in Saint Omer
