The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire

A writer, teacher, feminist activist, pioneer of Afro-Surrealism and key member of the Négritude movement, Martinique-born Suzanne Césaire was a trailblazer who deserves greater attention and credit than she has ever received. Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich’s fascination with her subject is seen in the research that went into the making of this film – including hours of audio interviews with Césaire’s living children and family. But this is no mere biopic. Instead, Césaire’s life is presented through an investigation by a group of filmmakers keen to grapple with the writer’s life and legacy. Shifting between present and past, blurring the lines between the imagined and the biographical, the film homes in on Zita Hanrot's character, an actress and new mother haunted by voices as she prepares to play Césaire.

Hunt-Ehrlich, an artist and filmmaker renowned for delving into the inner worlds of Black women, delivers an absorbing exploration of a figure side-lined, if not completely erased, by history. The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire profits from Hunt-Ehrlich’s fragmentary approach, acknowledging that the complexity of her character demands more than conventional hagiography. Noting how her husband Aimé’s success in the political sphere eclipsed her achievements, the film aims to reassert her place as a radical voice and visionary.

– Vanja Kaludjercic