The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire

This fascinating film examines the life and work of Caribbean surrealist Suzanne Césaire, whose life was overshadowed by that of her husband, politician and writer Aimé Césaire.

Inspired by the structures of Césaire’s own writing, which often took a colonial convention and unravelled it, and with glimpses of the surrealist scene (André Breton), the film deconstructs the narrative period biopic genre, moving between a conventional cinema and deconstructed experimental scenes. The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire plants us firmly in the darkness and desire of its subject matter while acknowledging the impossibility of resuscitating a legacy partially lost to time.