Alice Diop: Saint Omer - La Biennale di Venezia 79 - 2022

Alice Diop

Saint Omer

La Biennale di Venezia - 79

Leone d'argento

Gran premio della giuria

2h02min - France - Fiction - 2022

Synopsis

Rama, a novelist in her thirties, attends the trial of Laurence Coly at the court of Saint-Omer. The defendant is accused of killing her 15 month-old daughter, abandoning her on a beach in northern France at the rising tide. From this story Rama would like to write a contemporary adaptation of the ancient myth of Medea. But during the course of the trial, nothing goes as planned. About to become a mother herself, ultimately, this closed session proceeding brings into relief her own relationship to motherhood.

Rama, romancière d’une trentaine d’années, assiste au procès de Laurence Coly aux assises de Saint-Omer. Celle-ci est accusée d’avoir tué sa fille de quinze mois en l’abandonnant sur une plage du nord de la France, au moment où la marée montait. De cette histoire, Rama voudrait écrire une adaptation contemporaine du mythe antique de Médée. Mais au cours du procès, rien ne se passe comme prévu. C’est finalement son propre rapport à la maternité que le huis clos du procès vient questionner.

Co-written by novelist Marie NDiaye and film editor Amrita David

Also see acceptance speech of Grand Prix du Jury de la Mostra de Venise: https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2022/09/alice-diop-we-will-no-longer-be-silent.html