Saint Omer (film)

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Saint Omer
File:Saint Omer 2022 film poster.png
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Alice Diop
Produced by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • Toufik Ayadi
  • Christophe Barral
Screenplay by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Starring <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Music by Thibault Deboaisne
Cinematography Claire Mathon
Edited by Amrita David
Production
company
Srab Films
Distributed by Les Films du losange
Release dates
 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • 7 September 2022 (2022-09-07) (Venice)
  • 23 November 2022 (2022-11-23) (France)
Running time
 122 minutes
Country France
Language French
Box office $822,891[1]

Saint Omer is a 2022 French legal drama film directed by Alice Diop and starring Kayije Kagame and Guslagie Malanda. It is Diop's first narrative feature after working as a documentary filmmaker. In the film, Rama (Kagame) is a pregnant young novelist who attends the trial of Laurence Coly (Malanda), a Senegalese woman accused of murdering her 15-month-old child by leaving her on a beach to be swept away by the tide, in order to turn the tragic event into a literary retelling of Medea. It is based on the French court case of Fabienne Kabou, who was convicted of the same crime. Diop attended Kabou's trial in 2016.

The film premiered in-competition at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on 7 September 2022,[2] where it won the Silver Lion Grand Jury prize along with the Luigi De Laurentiis Lion of the Future award.[3][4] Additional screenings were held at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and the 2022 New York Film Festival before the theatrical release in France on 23 November 2022.[5][6] The film was selected as the French entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards,[7] and made the December shortlist.[8]

Plot

Rama, a literature professor and novelist, travels from Paris to Saint-Omer to observe the trial of Laurence Coly 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 herself and, like Coly, is in a mixed-race relationship and also 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 her pregnancy. The film ends before the outcome of the trial is announced. Rama returns to Paris.

Cast

  • Kayije Kagame as Rama
  • Guslagie Malanda as Laurence Coly
  • Valérie Dréville as The Judge
  • Aurélia Petit as Defence Barrister Vaudenay
  • Xavier Maly as Luc Dumontet, Coly's partner
  • Robert Canterella as Barrister
  • Salimata Kamate as Odile Diata
  • Thomas de Pourquery as Adrian, Rama's partner
  • Salih Sigirci as Salih
  • Fatih Sahin as Fatih
  • Atillahan Karagedik as Jackson
  • Ege Güner as Ege Güner
  • Mustili as Mustafa
  • Lionel Top as Journalist

Production

Saint Omer is based on the 2016 court case of Fabienne Kabou, who was convicted of killing her daughter in 2013, in the same way as Coly. Diop followed the case and immediately recognized Kabou's features from news footage as being Senegalese, which is Diop's family heritage. Diop attended the trial and became "obsessed" with the case, noting that most of the attendees and participants at the trial were also women. Diop elaborated that she "wanted to find answers to my own intimate questions that I had asked myself about my relationship with my own mother and being a mother myself. And I decided that since I shared those same emotions with so many women, if we were all so obsessed with that event, it meant there was something universal in the story, which had to do with motherhood. So I decided to make a film about it."[9] Like Rama, Diop was pregnant with her first child while attending the trial.[10] Diop said that she attended the trial out of "intuition" and did not decide to make a film about it until after the trial ended. Having only made documentary films, Diop made her narrative feature film debut because cameras were not allowed in the courtroom and she "wanted to recreate my experience of listening to another woman's story while interrogating myself, facing my own difficult truths."[11]

Court-transcripts were partially used to write the screenplay. While writing the script, Diop first met actresses Kayije Kagame and Guslagie Malanda. She was immediately impressed with both women and thought of them while still writing the script. She later contacted both Kagame and Malanda to audition. Diop was influenced by the work of Marguerite Duras, whom the character Rama gives a lecture about in the film.[9] Filming took six weeks and both the cast and crew were mostly female, which "wasn't fully deliberate, nor was it wholly accidental" according to Diop.[11] Filming took place between May and July 2021 in the Île-de-France and Hauts-de-France regions, including in the commune of Saint-Omer.[12][13]

Release

Saint Omer was initially considered for the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.[14] It premiered at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on 7 September 2022,[2] where it won the Grand Jury Prize along with the Luigi De Laurentiis Lion of the Future award.[3]

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 94% based on 123 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's consensus reads, "A gut-punching contemplation of a woman's immigrant experience, Saint Omer puts a mother on the stand and the audience in the jury box to find humanity in the inhumane."[15] According to Metacritic, which assigned a weighted average score of 91 out of 100 based on 36 critics, the film received "universal acclaim".[16]

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called it "Intellectually galvanizing and emotionally harrowing, the story explores motherhood, race and postcolonial France with control, lucidity and compassion."[17]

In September 2022 it was selected as France's official selection for Best International Film at the 95th Academy Awards.[18]

Accolades

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Venice Film Festival 10 September 2022 Golden Lion Alice Diop Nominated [19]
Grand Jury Prize Won
Luigi De Laurentiis Award for a Debut Film Won
Casa Wabi – Mantarraya Award Won [20]
Cinema & Arts Award - Golden Musa Won
Edipo Re Award Won
London Film Festival 16 October 2022 Best Film Saint Omer Nominated [21]
Film Fest Ghent 24 October 2022 Best Film Won [22]
Chicago International Film Festival 21 October 2022 Gold Hugo Nominated [23]
Silver Hugo for Best Screenplay Alice Diop, Amrita David, Zoé Galeron, and Marie NDiaye Won [24]
Seville European Film Festival 12 November 2022 Golden Giraldillo Saint Omer Won [25]
Best Screenplay Alice Diop, Amrita David, Marie Ndiaye Won
Gotham Independent Film Awards 28 November 2022 Best International Feature Saint Omer Nominated [26]
Louis Delluc Prize 30 November 2022 Best Film of the Year Won [27]
National Board of Review 8 December 2022 Top Five Foreign Language Films Won [28]
European Film Awards 10 December 2022 Best Director Alice Diop Nominated [29]
Los Angeles Film Critics Association 11 December 2022 Best Foreign Language Film Saint Omer Runner-up [30]
Chicago Film Critics Association 14 December 2022 Best Foreign Language Film Nominated [31]
Milos Stehlik Breakthrough Filmmaker Award Alice Diop Nominated
Florida Film Critics Circle 22 December 2022 Best Foreign Language Film Saint Omer Nominated [32]
Alliance of Women Film Journalists 5 January 2023 Best Non-English Language Film Nominated [33]
Lumières Awards 16 January 2022 Best Film Nominated [34]
Most Promising Actress Guslagie Malanda Nominated
Best Screenplay Alice Diop, Marie NDiaye and Amrita David Nominated
Best Cinematography Claire Mathon Nominated
Seattle Film Critics Society 17 January 2023 Best Film Not in the English Language Saint Omer Nominated [35]
Online Film Critics Society 23 January 2023 Best Debut Feature Nominated [36]
London Film Critics' Circle 5 February 2023 Film of the Year Nominated [37]
Foreign Language Film of the Year Nominated
Supporting Actress of the Year Guslagie Malanda Nominated
Black Reel Awards 6 February 2023 Outstanding Foreign-Language Film Saint Omer Won [38]
Directors Guild of America Awards 18 February 2023 Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film Alice Diop Nominated [39]
César Awards 24 February 2023 Most Promising Actress Guslagie Malanda Nominated [40]
Best Original Screenplay Alice Diop, Amrita David, Marie NDiaye Nominated
Best First Feature Film Toufik Ayadi, Christophe Barral, Alice Diop Won
Best Cinematography Claire Mathon Nominated
Independent Spirit Awards 4 March 2023 Best International Film Saint Omer Nominated [41]
Toronto Film Critics Association 6 March 2023 Best Foreign Language Film Won [42]
Paris Film Critics Association 5 February 2023 Best Picture Alice Diop Nominated [43]
Best Actress Guslagie Malanda Nominated [43]
Best Young Actress Guslagie Malanda Nominated [43]
Best Young Actress Kayjie Kagame Nominated [43]
Best Original Screenplay Amrita David, Alice Diop & Marie NDiaye Nominated [43]

See also

References

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External links

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