One of the most buzzed-about films of the 2022/23 awards season, the 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 (played with restrained intensity by remarkable discovery Kayije Kagame), a successful Parisian journalist and author, has travelled to the coastal town of Saint-Omer to document the trial of Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanda), 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 and increasing uncertainty over her own impending motherhood…

Inspired by true events, SAINT OMER is an arresting and profound film of constantly shifting layers; at once a tense courtroom drama, an inquiry into female agency, and a provocative examination of myth. Announcing Alice Diop as a major new voice in world cinema, her film has been selected to represent France at the 2023 Academy Awards with very good reason.

Rating

M

Duration

123 MINS