Saint Omer

A trial begins in a French court in which a young immigrant is accused of contributing to the death of her 15-month-old daughter. Sounds like a good starting point for a courtroom drama with tear-jerking confessions of the accused's and lawyers' witty ripostes, right? Not at all. In her feature debut, acclaimed documentarist Alice Diop skillfully avoids genre clichés, opting for long shots and occasionally shockingly impassive dialogues. Instead of soothing our consciences and leading to a simple condemnation of the murderer, the director of Saint Omer, without justifying the protagonist, strives to present the broader context of her terrible act. As a result, Diop transcends the realm of a fact-inspired individual case study. Saint Omer can be interpreted as a new version of the myth of Medea, a story of the alienation of individuals suspended between two cultures, as well as a testimonial to the dramatic consequences that toxic relationships with loved ones can bring. The complexity and depth of Diop's film did not escape the attention of the jury at last year's Venice Film Festival, which awarded it the Grand Jury Prize.