Saint Omer

Director: Alice Diop

1 May 2024

See

Him: Rama (Kayije Kagame) a novelist and second generation migrant from Francophone Africa to France reports on the Saint Omer criminal trial of Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanda), a first gen Senegalese migrant charged with drowning her infant daughter.

Think

Him: This is the Helen Garner style of court reporting. Rama attends the trial with a removed insight being of a similar lived experience as the accused and possible answer to ‘‘why did she do it?’ Seeing their differences, like how Laurence was cut off for changing her studies from law to philosophy, met a much older man, Luc Dumontef (Xavier Maly), the father of the child, and felt pressure yet affinity for her mother, Rama can relate to, yet struggles with, the idea of being ‘a good migrant’.

Feel

Him: The judge (Valerie Dreville) sees through the bullshit of Laurence claiming to have been possessed. But like anyone, the accused herself wants a cathartic narrative as to why she did it. Her defence counsel gives her that, and her cold and hard to read exterior cracks. Her turning to look and smile at Rama was chilling, as if to say, ‘This could be you.’