Written and directed by Madeleine Hunt Ehrlich, co-written by Marina Magloire, an actress, three months post-partum, reads through fragments of the archive of Suzanne Césaire as she prepares to perform excerpts of the writer’s work. Starring: Zita Hanrot, Motell Gyn Foster, Josué Gutierrez, Reese Antoinette and Melisa Lopez.
A lot of films exist to tell a story but there are some that exist simply to make you feel something and The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire is of those films. Its design focuses on the air and depth of Césaire’s work and instilling that strongly into the atmosphere. To that extent, it comes across as more of a performance piece than a traditional biopic, drama blend. That comes with its advantages and disadvantages, you perhaps might not learn much about the writer, activist but you can connect with the emotions of her work. Considering the impassioned nature of her work, it’s unusual and creative to explore it with such a serene, smoothly flowing atmosphere.
Madeleine Hunt Ehrlich builds an atmosphere which has an endearingly and alluringly romantic nature. Particularly when it’s matched with such a beautiful aesthetic, the way that cinematographer Alex Ashe embodies the era of the 1940s and 1950s all throughout The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire without it ever being set in one time, is both impressive and incredibly satisfying to watch. There’s no denying the texture and colour of this film are nostalgic and stunning, it’s extremely easy to be drawn in by it and is arguably one of the strongest elements that it has to offer.
Interestingly, the flow of The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire is very strong and poetic but the way that the progression moves can feel disconnected. Moving from character to character doesn’t always have a natural edge, and so though the tone is consistent, the scenes don’t quite build upon one another. In a similar way, it doesn’t give the actors much of a chance to develop their portrayals, they all manage to have great presence, particularly Zita Hanrot, but they can only take that so far without more to do.
You can sense how each of them makes a particular effort to connect with the material and to do Césaire’s work justice. It feels as though Hanrot could have turned this into an extremely memorable performance, had she been given more space and structure to expand the character, as she’s wonderful to watch.
The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire creates a genuinely stunning aesthetic, it’s charming to watch and builds an almost hypnotically poetic atmosphere. However, it takes a very unusual, and very creative, path to tell this story and while it works, it doesn’t necessarily teach viewers much about Suzanne Césaire. It might be a more satisfying experience if you have prior knowledge of the writer, to create a bigger connection. Madeleine Hunt Ehrlich built something that’s beautiful and creative but being so poetic, it forgoes a traditional story and misses out on creating something with a lasting impression.
FilmCarnage.com 