52 Films by Women Vol 7. 18. SAINT OMER (Director: Alice Diop)
Why would a woman kill her own child? It is a question asked in director Alice Diop’s courtroom drama, Saint Omer , in which the action is seen through the eyes of an apparently disinterested woman, Rama (Kayjie Kagame) whose own background and situation bind her to the case. Co-written by Marie Ndiaye, Amrita David and Diop, the film is carefully crafted, sensitive and packs an emotional punch. It asks questions about identity and culture and has a terrific closing argument. It uses film extracts in an interesting way, as if the director wanted to incorporate her own mood board. It also puts an alarming statement in the mouth of the accused, Laurence Joly (Guslagie Malanda), the Senegalese daughter of a United Nations interpreter, who took her fifteen-month-old baby daughter, Elise, to the beach at Berck-sur-Mer at night and drowned her: ‘I don’t why I did it. I’m hoping this trial will tell me.’ The film opens with breathing and the crashing of waves. We watch a woman in prof...