Monday 17 July
10am; 6:30pm
Director Alice Diop
Drama/Trial
French
(English subtitles)
122 minutes
This extraordinary narrative debut feature by acclaimed documentarian Alice Diop depicts the gripping story of a young novelist who is forced to confront her own complex family history as she attends a notorious murder trial.
Northeastern France, 2016. Rama, a successful Parisian journalist and author, has travelled to the coastal town of Saint-Omer to document the trial of Laurence Coly, a well-educated young Senegalese Frenchwoman who is accused of abandoning her 15-month-old daughter on a beach at high tide. At work on a modern-day adaptation of Medea, Rama plans to incorporate Laurence’s story into her new novel, but the case affects her in unexpected ways and she soon begins to unravel over complex childhood memories.
5 stars! An extraordinary experience. – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
Pitch-perfect. Human drama of the most intimate kind, building to a stunningly thought-provoking climax. – CJ Johnson, ABC Radio