Directed By Alice Diop

Starring – Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanda, Valerie Dreville

The Plot – Rama (Kagame), a literature professor and novelist, travels from Paris to Saint-Omer to observe the trial of Laurence Coly (Malanda) and write about the case. Coly is a student and Senegalese immigrant accused of leaving her 15-month-old daughter on a beach to be swept away by the tide in Berck. Rama, who is four-months pregnant and, like Coly, is in a mixed-race relationship and has a complex relationship with her own Senegalese immigrant mother, feels a personal connection to Coly. She plans to write a modern day retelling of the Greek Medea myth about the case. As she learns more about Coly’s life and the isolation Coly experienced from her family and society while living in France, Rama becomes increasingly anxious about her own life and pregnancy.

Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements and brief strong adult language

(1) SAINT OMER Trailer | TIFF 2022 – YouTube

POSITIVES

Like most courtroom drama’s, “Saint Omer” channels a ruthless balance of power, with the fate of a victim hanging in the balance. But what makes this film truly special is its minimalist approach to direction that not only materializes with it a naturalistic element to its engagement that periodically blurs the line of fiction and reality accordingly, but also a source in its storytelling that transcribes a contemporary commentary on the immense responsibility and frailty of motherhood. Diop, a documentarian turned filmmaker, elicits much of the ferocity and truth of her previous career elective, illustrating a candid appeal to the cruel and barbaric circumstance of courtroom litigation, all the while unfurling the dialogue-heavy dependency of the investigation, with its own fascinating discussions on the universal language that is feminism. It’s one of those kind of films that give me a deeper respect on the broad and resilient shoulders of women everywhere, and one whose life-altering circumstance is deposited effortlessly in the depths of the dialogue crafted superbly from Diop and Amrita David, who are given patience and perserverence inside of the two hour run time to vividly convey the dreaded disposition of a woman who felt so lonely and isolated that she had no other direction to turn towards. Even more fascinating, we know she’s guilty of murder immediately in the opening statements, so the uphill climb of this legal team attempting to prove her innocence makes it all the more fascinating, with Diop’s meticulous motions of the lens to immerse us in the many perspectives emmanating inside of the courtroom. Point-of-view perspectives, lack of music score, long take dissertations, and faithful facial registries are only a few examples of the way the many words and actions seap under the skin of the audience, with measured brilliance of editing meant to elicit an inescapable levity to stakes and circumstances that feel every bit monumental as they do universal. It’s also equally compelling because of the duo of performances from Kagame and Malanda, who each shine breathlessly for entirely different reasons. Kagame’s Rama bears the weight of inevitability on her shoulders, conveying a fear and shackling of genetic make-up that blinds and distorts what should otherwise be the biggest announcement of her life, and Malanda’s spellbinding turn as the prosecuted Laurence Coly boldly articulates her own emotional dexterity through a supporting role that dominates the movie’s run time. Malanda’s most defining feature are the eyes to the soul that unlock the wet blanket of grief, anger, and helplessness that continuously overwhelm her dreaded depositions, while unloading some of the most impressively long-winded dialogue deposits that I have seen in quite sometime.

NEGATIVES

While not entirely compromising to my engagement, I would be lying if I said I felt the movie’s pacing wouldn’t at least challenge and even hinder the success rate for others who only have one clear idea of what a courtroom drama should entail. Because the script dominates its time inside of the courtroom, with these lengthy deposition deposits, it absolutely requires its audience to lose themselves in the details of the case, or find themselves overwhelmed by the element of slowburn pacing that could ultimately and unfortunately define their engagement. For my money, the weakest area of the film was in the opening act, where we’re introduced to our characters, long before the courtroom comes into focus, with these plodding and momentarily meandering depictions that, do add visual proof for the mental pudding laid out thickly with experience, but take a bit longer than I would’ve appreciated in getting to the better side of this film’s storytelling. This leads to another problem I had with the characterization of Rama, in that I feel she continuously plays second fiddle to Laurence, which underwrites the connections between them that the movie thematically leans so heavily on. It’s understandable to remain present by the victim’s side throughout the story because the conflict pertains to her, but Rama is essentially the one driving the narrative, so the ambiguity clumsily exerts the linear connection to Laurence, all the while making her feel like the second most important character in a film where she’s definitely established as the lead. Finally, most of “Saint Omer” stunned with scintillating satisfaction, but the resolution is disappointing to say the least, and not exactly in the ways you might expect with such a statement. Without spoiling such, the film’s closing moments are so disappointingly flat that they took my grade down an entire point, omitting the kind of consequential pay-off that serves as the exclamation point to any great film, and instead adjourns court with an abruption at the moment the stakes eventually overwhelm it.

OVERALL

“Saint Omer” is an emotionally gut-wrenching and delicate display from Diop about the idiology of mothers and how such pivotal figures are unfairly judged by sociological perceptions that are often out of their control. Though the tender sentiment sometimes exceeds the entertainment value of the narrative, with sauntered pacing and a disappointing ending to boot, the mesmerizing talents of Kagame and Malanda nurture it with unfiltered honesty, bringing to light many thought-provoking questions about identity and justice to their emotional dexterity, which consistently demands order in the court.

My Grade: 7/10 or B