Holy Omer ★★★½
DRAMA (2022)
Directed by: Alice Diop
Interpretations: Kaige Kagame, Juslasi Malanda

Alice Diop, one of the most promising new voices in European cinema, presents her first feature film, which also won the Grand Jury Prize at the latest Venice Film Festival. This peculiar court drama takes place in the French city of Holy Omer, where young Lawrence, an immigrant from Senegal, appears in court as a defendant in the death of her 15-month-old daughter, who was found drowned somewhere on the northern coast of the country. Present at the trial is Rama, a writer of about the same age, who is shocked by what she hears during the trial while being called upon to make a decision about her own pregnancy.

The modern “Medea” accepts the accusations, but pleads not guilty, as she believes she had no choice but to kill the child she had with a man much older than her.

Directing with a “dry”, almost documentary minimalism, seeking to avoid melodrama and light emotions, Diop manages to captivate the viewer only with the essence of what is presented on the screen. The contemporary Medea case is not so much about a scheme of just versus unjust or revelations that will lead to upheavals; Lawrence accepts the charges against her from the start, but pleads not guilty as he believes she had no choice. but to kill the child she has given birth to by a man much older than her. Across from her is a (white) French judge, cautious and mild-mannered, her questions highlighting cultural differences, gender issues, but also deeper ones, to which the educated yet cautious Lawrence answers with surprising clarity. .

Of course, at the center of the process, as well as the film as a whole, motherhood. Using the constant flashbacks between Rama, the accused, and her mother, and the reactions of the other women written on their faces as one of the main characters speaks, Diop creates a mini-study on perhaps the strongest physical connection, her approach. , however, is multifaceted and full of questions rather than offering the viewer simple answers.

Finally, a very good performance, above all the virtually unknown Juslasi Malandu, who interprets the tragic character with admirable measure in an otherwise very mature film, perhaps lacking only a somewhat garrulous ending, should be especially noted.