"Marie-Madeleine"a radical film by Géssica Généus on the contradictions shaking Haiti, presented at Cannes

God is everywhere: on buses, store fronts, walls… In Jacmel, Haiti, he is in the word, the spirits and the churches. When Mary Magdalene needs help, hearts close. Mary Magdalene is a prostitute. Only Joseph, a young evangelist, reaches out to her. A relationship develops between the two strangers who are completely opposed. Mary Madeleine lives at night. The film by Géssica Généus Marie Madeleine is presented at the Cannes Film Festival in the Cannes Premiere section.

Joseph needs to put a camera between him and reality. Brother Joseph protects himself from others and especially from himself. By keeping his desires at bay, he lives vicariously what his faith forbids him. Because Joseph doubts, his certainties waver upon contact with Marie Madeline. By spending time with people who live at night, Joseph opens himself up to a new world.

Géssica Généus, who plays Marie Madeleine, films the bodies as closely as possible, multiplies the close-ups. It desecrates bodies and trivializes desires. The filmmaker also shows the contradictions that cross her country, omitting neither the powerless nor the growth of religious communities. How to survive in a country riddled with poverty and corruption? Destitute, prostitutes are forced into unprotected sex because clients refuse to use condoms.

The excluded have their excluded. Prostitutes, the designated scapegoats, face rigorous religious discourse and moralistic judgments. They mask the powerlessness of the authorities. The filmmaker sets up a brothel opposite the church. The madam invokes voodoo and the pastor the Bible. Two universes that cannot communicate. The line between good and evil is blurred.

In a fragmented narration, Géssica Généus unvarnishedly films the banality of evil. Some scenes are unbearable, like those following the trial of a young man accused of being a werewolf. This radicality is not a posture, it brings, on the contrary, great authenticity to this fiction.

The Haitian actress and director, selected for Un Certain Regard in 2021 for Freda, signs a free and uncompromising film.Â

Titre : “Marie Madeleine”
Language : French
Durée : 1h 44min
Genre : drama
Scénario et réalisation : Géssica Généus
With: Géssica Généus, Béonard Monteau, Edouard Baptiste
Theatrical release: not yet defined
Distribution : Pyramid
Synopsis : In Jacmel, Haiti, the sea, churches and spirits shape life. Marie Madeleine is a free woman. She lives from prostitution and goes through the nights without submitting to the rules of those who save souls. His path crosses that of Joseph, a young evangelist. A relationship is formed between these two beings who are completely opposite. While Joseph wavers in his faith, Mary Magdalene leads him towards a world in which desire and the quest for freedom open a space where everything can be reinvented.