Making A Murderer: Black Trauma And The Media In Alice Diop’s Saint Omer

Alice Diop’s directorial debut Saint Omer examines a real 2013 infanticide case in coastal France through a dual narrative lens, interrogating how media sensationalism and institutional racism shape public perception of Black trauma. The film follows Rama, a successful Parisian novelist researching the trial of Laurence Coly, a Senegalese immigrant accused of drowning her child, while exploring parallels to classical Greek tragedy and the systemic prejudices embedded within French legal and cultural institutions. Shot chronologically with documentary-style long takes by cinematographer Claire Mathon, Diop eschews conventional narrative exposition to foreground emotional authenticity and challenge media reductionism. Rather than centering guilt or innocence, the work interrogates the socio-psychological pressures and institutional indifference that precede tragedy, using the trial structure as a vehicle for broader critique of French colorblind ideology and structural anti-Blackness.

Original article published on The Quietus — AI-generated summary. Read the full article at the source.