Saint Omer

Dir. Alice Diop. 2022, 122 mins. DCP. In French with English subtitles. With Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanga, Valérie Dréville, Aurélia Petit, Xavier Maly. The fiction feature debut by documentary filmmaker Diop (We) is an emotionally rich, thought-provoking courtroom drama that adapts the shocking true story of a young Senegalese immigrant named Laurence (Malanga) in northern France on trial for murdering her baby daughter. Having admitted to the killing, she nevertheless refuses to admit motivation and denies that she’s to blame, saying she was affected by a curse. Attending the trial is Rama (Kagame), a journalist also of Senegalese descent who plans to write a book about Laurence, comparing her to Medea, and who is dealing with her own anxieties around becoming a mother. Multilayered and brilliantly acted, Saint Omer is both intensely psychological and observationally distant, a film about the impossibility of fully knowing another person and the estrangement of living in an adopted world. 

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.