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Saint Omer

Follows Rama, a novelist who attends the trial of Laurence Coly at the Saint-Omer Criminal Court to use her story to write a modern-day adaptation of the ancient myth of Medea, but things don't go as expected. (PG-13, 122 min.)

Showtimes

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

5:00 PM 7:30 PM

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

5:30 PM

Thursday, April 27, 2023

5:00 PM

Young novelist Rama attends the trial of Laurence Coly, a young woman accused of killing her 15-month-old daughter by abandoning her to the rising tide on a beach in northern France. But as the trial continues, the words of the accused and witness testimonies will shake Rama’s convictions and call into question our own judgment. [NEON]

Starring:Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanda, Valérie Dréville
Director: Alice Diop
Language: French
Genre(s): Drama

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"It is a core-shattering experience in every frame."

— Emily Zemler, Observer

"The standard for ‘Best of 2023’ lists has already been set."

— David Jenkins, Little White Lies

"It is riveting and uncompromising cinema of the highest order."

— Josh Kupecki, Austin Chronicle

"Gavel-banging clichés are scoured away in Alice Diop’s subtly groundbreaking film."

— Danny Leigh, Financial Times

"It’s a stripped-down French legal drama, with a carefully controlled, expanding emotional impact, touching on matters of motherhood, gender, immigration and race."

— Liam Lacey, Original-Cin

"A subdued but intriguing portrait of a monstrous mother and the woman who struggles to understand her, which should build on the critical success of Diop’s last film, the award-winning We."

— Wendy Ide, Screen International

"An intellectually charged, emotionally wrenching story about the inability of storytelling — literary, legal or cinematic — to do justice to the violence and strangeness of human experience."

— A.O. Scott, The New York Times

"The severity and poise of this calmly paced movie, its emotional reserve and moral seriousness – and the elusive, implied confessional dimension concerning Diop herself – make it an extraordinary experience."

— Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

"In her narrative debut, Diop has found a way to mix her hard-hitting documentary style with fiction to raise a mirror to society. This new arena, with its wider reach, makes Diop an exciting filmmaker to watch."

— Ronda Racha Penrice, TheWrap

"Alice Diop’s documentarian approach to the courtroom drama is fresh and urgent, consistently commanding attention to the women as they speak and listen. A philosophical discourse delivered with astonishing clarity."

— Lillian Crawford, Empire

"This immensely intelligent film ... exposes a host of limits—of empathy, self-knowledge, language, cultural understanding—while it expands into infinite possibilities regarding the timeworn genres of the courtroom thriller and the immigrant tale."

— Melissa Anderson, 4Columns

"Diop’s Saint Omer doesn’t condescend to the viewer by slinking toward black-and-white offerings of good and evil, or broad statements about race or gender. This ripped-from-the-headlines narrative accomplishes a feat far more creative, and a bit less forced. It dances on the surface of these participants, and in their subtle ripples, to reveal the humanity in the seemingly inhumane."

— Robert Daniels, The Playlist