Soon, though, Rama’s neat literary comparison falls apart as Coly’s testimony reveals a truth – a version of the truth, more like – that challenges notions of autonomy, motherhood, imagination, and superstition.
Shot with the kind of unblinking eye that defined her non-fiction work , Diop’s film balances extended sequences of Coly’s testimony inside the courtroom with shorter snippets of Rama’s life outside of it. Whereas Coly is, up to a point, eerily calm and collected as she recounts a life of loneliness and instability, the seemingly established and comfortable Rama is perpetually moments from falling apart altogether.
This complicated mission is aided by a pair of tremendous lead performances from Malanda and Kagame, two women who never share a single scene together yet ultimately convey a startling sense of connectivity and intimacy.