Saint Omer
2022
Dir. Alice Diop, France
I don't have much to say about Saint Omer and really I have no desire perform the rigourous analysis that would give me any concrete point of view. The film has been lodged in my head ever since I saw it last week and this is merely a note of a place to return to, whether in writing or within my mind, after I have walked a little further on. Whole lives from a car window.
The beauty of the film is, I think, it's ambiguity. And I certainly use that word for want of a better for the film is not lacking intention; A shot as confrontational as those of the women of the court looking directly into the lens is not chosen for nothing. But there are no simple perspectives on motherhood, on being an immigrant, on expectations, that would ever encompass the breadth of the movie. If there were anything I would wish to be able to produce in my own work it would be that.
I will run through the incomplete thoughts that immediately come to me. The process of resolving the focus is long and the camera may never have been on the subject. The delicacy of Rama's (Kayije Kagame) performance is astounding, especially in the moment she first arrives at her Mother's house. Coly (Guslagie Malanda) obviously is spectacular through the whole piece but it is the performances of those like Rama, of quietness and uncertainty and nervousness, for reasons I imagine are obvious, I am always drawn to. The Nina Simone 'Little Girl Blue' sequence is genuinely ecstatic. And, lastly, it is fascinating how the film manages to coalesce into an ending. For a film that draws so much influence from Wisemen, and I'm not denying the poeticism that Wisemen is able to produce, with it's long, static takes, it is still able to construct something, through rhythm, pace, and cross-cuts, that feels wholly complete while still leaving the audience with so much. I must learn how to do that.
Sit for a bit next time.
~Honeycream