Saint Omer

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. (Palace Films)