Saint Omer (2022) Movie Review
Saint Omer is a two hour and two minute courtroom drama. But if you’re expecting a heated and rapid paced drama like Argentina, 1985 or The Trial of the Chicago 7 you’ll be disappointed. This is an incredibly slow moving movie. Rama (Kayije Kagame) is a writer and professor who is working on a book about Medea. To aid in her writing she goes to Saint Omer to attend the trial of Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanda), a young mother who is accused of killing her fifteen-month old baby. The similarities between the two women unfold. Both are immigrants, have strained relationships with their mothers, and are in interracial romantic relationships.
The movie focuses heavily on the questioning of Laurence in the courtroom. Cinematographer Claire Mathon utilizes close ups of the judges, prosecutors, Laurence, and spectators to showcase the minute emotions on display as Laurence gives her testimony. Most of the movie is Laurence talking about her life as the judge searches for what might have prompted her to kill her baby. Laurence is unusually restrained in retelling facts about her life, almost as if she knows the foregone conclusion of the case regardless of what she says. Director Alice Diop opts for subtlety and some might find it difficult to be engaged in the story due to the slow and quiet nature of the story. There are few fireworks here, but Diop very quietly provides commentary on how trials pick apart every aspect of the defendants’ life, oftentimes with little or no context making it difficult to understand the whole picture of their life.
Diop also highlights how difficult it is for immigrants to start a new life and the pressure that often comes from family members to be better than they were and to utilize the opportunity for a new (or better) life to the fullest extent. The fact that Laurence is black and from Africa is highlighted several times with multiple people commenting about her excellent French pronunciation and several derogatory comments about her background. The barriers and hardships stacked against Laurence mount and Diop drops them into the story with little fanfare, letting you make your own judgments about what drove her to leave her baby alone on the beach for the tide to wash away.
Diop juxtaposes Laurence’s experience with Rama’s, who sees herself mirrored in Laurence, particularly in regards to her relationship with her mother. Flashbacks of Rama as a young girl interacting silently with her mother, showcase the tension and lack of warmth between the two. The generational traumas passed down from mother to daughter are hinted at in these silent scenes, but could have packed more of a punch if there had been more meaningful and insightful interactions. With such heavy themes, Saint Omer can be a difficult watch. At times the subtlety works very well but with others, especially the scenes outside of the courtroom, the film lags a bit and feels underwhelming. Kagame and Malanda both put in nuanced and quiet performances. Their characters never speak but they do lock eyes in the courtroom in one of the most powerful scenes of the movie. We only wish every scene had been as intense as that one.
You’ll like this movie if:
1. You like courtroom dramas
2. You enjoy slow moving and subtle stories
3. You want to explore deeper themes like generational trauma and immigration hurdles
