The beginning of the 19th century. The black woman Saartjie is exhibited before a hungry European crowd as an exotic attraction. Her unusual anatomy becomes the subject of scientific scrutiny and the target of male lechery. This barbaric tale, which questions the limits of human dignity and much else besides, was screened in competition at Venice.
It is the year 1817 and, in the Royal Academy of Medicine in Paris, anatomist Georges Cuvier is showing off a moulded cast of the body of Saartjie Baartman: "I have never seen a human skull which bears such a resemblance to that of an ape,” he declares, prompting nods of approval from the scientific elite of the day. Seven years previously, Saartjie left her native South Africa and travelled to Europe with her master, Caezar. There the latter exhibits his former domestic to a hungry and sensation-seeking public as the "Hottentot Venus” who is exploited as a popular attraction among both wealthy and poor members of society. Saartjie and her unusual anatomy become the subject of scientific scrutiny and also the target of male lechery. Kechiche tells an opaque and barbaric tale which questions the limits of human dignity, confronts the distinctions between freedom and slavery, and points to issues of racism and prejudice which are as relevant for us today as at any time in the past.
160 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Abdellatif Kechiche
/ Screenplay Abdellatif Kechiche, Ghalia Lacroix
/ Dir. of Photography Lubomir Bakchev
/ Music Slaheddine Kechiche
/ Editor Camille Tourbkis, Ghalya Lacroix, Albertine Lastera
/ Producer Marin Karmitz, Nathanaël Karmitz, Charles Gillibert
/ Production MK2 Productions, France 2 Cinéma, CinéCinéma
/ Cast Elina Löwensohn, François Marthouret, Yahima Torrès, Andre Jacobs, Olivier Gourmet, Michel Gionti, Jean-Christophe Bouvet
/ Contact mk2 Films, Asociace českých filmových klubů
/ Distributor Asociace českých filmových klubů
Abdellatif Kechiche (b. 1960, Tunis), screenwriter and director, started out as an actor, giving his screen debut in 1984 in Mint Tea (Un thé à la menthe). As a director he began with Blame It on Voltaire (La faute à Voltaire, 2001) about an idealistic immigrant in Paris; the film won a Golden Lion for Best Debut at Venice, among other awards. Three years later he followed this up with Games of Love and Chance (L’esquive), which brought him five French César awards. The film was also shown in the Another View section at KVIFF. The film The Secret of the Grain (La graine et le mulet) was completed and premiered in 2007, earning four Césars (Best Film, Director, Original Screenplay and Actress in a Leading Role), the Special Jury Prize at the Venice festival and several other awards. His fourth feature film, Black Venus, also competed at Venice.
mk2 Films
55, rue Traversière, 75012, Paris
France
Phone: +33 144 673 111
Fax: +33 143 072 963
E-mail: [email protected]
Asociace českých filmových klubů
Stonky 860, 686 01, Uherské Hradiště
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 572 501 989
E-mail: [email protected]
Pavel Bednařík
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