Race, motherhood and sorcery converge in this startling debut narrative feature from French Senegalese documentarian Alice Diop. Based on the 2013 drowning of a baby in northwest France and the following trial against the child's mother in the town of Saint-Omer, which Diop attended in person, the film rejects the cliched trappings of the courtroom drama and the true crime genre, bringing a documentarian's analytical eye to the emotional, confused proceedings. Supported by a rich, intelligent and piercing performance from Guslagie Malanda as the mother on trial and Kayije Kagame's receptive, tortured observer who recognizes much of herself in the woman on the stand, Saint Omer ensnares the viewer in a conflagration of conviction, circumstance and penetrating uncertainty. 

D: Alice Diop, France, 2022, 2h2m