Seeking out the
5000 greatest films
in a century of cinema
Saint Omer
Directed by
Alice Diop
Produced by Toufik Ayadi and Christophe Barral
Written by Alice Diop, Amrita David, and Marie NDiaye
Produced by Toufik Ayadi and Christophe Barral
Written by Alice Diop, Amrita David, and Marie NDiaye
With:
Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanga, Robert Cantarella, Thomas de Pourquery, Valérie Dréville, Ege Güner, Salimata Kamate, Atillahan Karagedik, and Xavier Maly
Cinematography:
Claire Mathon
Editing: Amrita David
Editing: Amrita David
Runtime:
122 min
Release Date: 23 November 2022
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Color: Color
Release Date: 23 November 2022
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Color: Color
The narrative debut of documentarian Alice Diop, Saint Omer is a French courtroom drama about a young Senegalese immigrant (Guslagie Malanga) accused of murdering her 15-month-old daughter by abandoning her on a beach. The film unfolds with a stark, matter-of-fact formality that Diop deftly inverts with the addition of a young literature professor (Kayije Kagame) who attends because she plans to write about the case. We don't see the proceedings from her point of view, as such, but our perceptions are influenced by sitting with her as everything transpires. The doubts and concerns the young writer is experiencing about her own impending motherhood silently connect the two women, and many other women in attendance, providing the film with a complex, deeply emotional undercurrent.