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Black Venus

Vénus noire

Belgium, Italy, France

2010

166 Min
Color
1.85:1
Dutch, English, French
  • Currently 3.2/5 Stars.
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DIR Abdellatif Kechiche

PROD Charles Gillibert, Marin Karmitz, Nathanaël Karmitz

SCR Abdellatif Kechiche, Ghalya Laroix

DP Lubomir Bakchev, Sofian El Fani

CAST Yahima Torres, André Jacobs, Olivier Gourmet, Elina Löwensohn, François Marthouret, Michel Gionti, Jean-Christophe Bouvet, Jonathan Pienaar, Olivier Loustau, Eric Moreau, Diana Stewart, Ralph Amoussou, Violaine de Carne, Gilles Matheron, Yann Sorton

ED Camille Toubkis, Ghalya Laroix, Laurent Roüan

PROD DES Florian Sanson, Mathieu Menut

MUSIC Slaheddine Kechiche

SOUND Nicolas Waschkowski, Jean-Paul Hurier

Venice (Competition), New York, São Paulo (International Perspective), Göteborg (Mästare), CPH PIX (Franske Fristelser), Transilvania (Supernova), Karlovy Vary (Horizons), Melbourne (International Panorama), New York

Synopsis

In his unforgettable telling of the short, deplorable existence of the “Hottentot Venus”—née Saartjie Baartman, a slave from Cape Town who was exhibited as a freak-show attraction in early 19th-century Europe—Abdellatif Kechiche (The Secret of the Grain) delivers a riveting examination of racism.

Gawked at and groped in grimy carnivals in London and, later, high-society Parisian salons, Baartman soon becomes the object of prurient fascination of French scientists, obsessed with calibrating every part of her anatomy—particularly her enlarged buttocks and genitals. Though Baartman’s life was unspeakably grim, Yahima Torres’s remarkably complex portrayal of the title character reveals not just a mute symbol of victimhood but also a woman capable of fierce defiance. North American Premiere. –NYFF

Director

Original

Abdellatif Kechiche

Abdellatif Kechiche (Arabic: عبد اللطيف كشيش‎, born December 7, 1960 in Tunis, Tunisia) is an actor, movie director and screenwriter. He made his directorial debut in 2000 with La Faute à Voltaire (Blame it on Voltaire), aka Poetical Refugee, which he also wrote. He also directed L’Esquive, which won a César Award for Best Film and Best Director. He has presented recently his last film La Graine et le Mulet on 64th Mostra del Cinema at Venezia for which he was awarded the Special Jury Prize, the FIPRESCI Prize, such as later the Louis Delluc Prize and others César Awards for Best Film and Best Director.

As an actor, his introduction to most English-speaking audiences was starring as Ashade the taxi driver in the 2005 psychological thriller “Sorry, Haters”, an “official selection” in both the Toronto and American Film Institute’s film festivals. —Wikipedia 

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VENIMOS LOS JODIMOS Y NOS FUIMOS

21Feb13

El hombre es el lobo del hombre…y de la mujer. Estremecedor recuento (basado en hechos reales) de la trágica existencia de Saartjie Baartman, una mujer bosquimana quien por sus características anatómicas y sus genitales hipertrofiados, fué explotada sexual y laboralmente en su papel de fenómeno circense, ante la morbosa mirada y los prejuicios racistas tanto del gremio científico como del público parisino y londinense del siglo XIX. Demoledor discurso sobre la responsabilidad colectiva e historica de una sociedad que asistió impávida (que no cómplice) a la degradación moral y fisica de un ser humano, este tercer largometraje de Kechiche puede resultar una experiencia muy irritante y bastante difícil de digerir, pero totalmente imprescindible, cuya efectividad se sostiene en la contundencia del guión escrito por el propio Abdellatif Kechiche y Ghalya Laroix, en la sórdida belleza de la fotografía de Lubomir Bakchev, y primordialmente, en el emotivo desempeño de la joven actriz cubana Yahima Torres.

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micmac●

9Jan13

I found this a very problematic film. But at the same time I'm glad it was made and I give props to the director for a tricky task.

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skiptracer

25Jul11

in dire need of editing and fine tuning. i left after enduring over two hours, figuring the end couldn't be worth enduring much more of the same in order to get there.

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elena

5Jun11

I totally agree with Dogan Arslan and Marcus Wp about the use of editing and the same and same unecessary scenes. It wasn't not bad despite that.

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Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

NYFF 2010. Abdellatif Kechiche's "Black Venus"

By David Hudson on October 6, 2010

Abdellatif Kechiche's "riveting" Black Venus is "built around the phenomenal lead performance of Yahima Torres," writes Melissa Anderson

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Reviews

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Trop long, trop lent !

By hubertg​uillaud on April 8, 2011

Malgré l’histoire (éprouvante), la qualité de la réalisation numérique (filmant les visages de très près), les acteurs (excellents), la reconstitution… le film est bien trop long et lent pour ne pas…  read review

Flawed, but still a solid movie

By Marcus WP on October 11, 2010

The last movie i saw at this years NY Film Fest was Black Venus. As flawed as this movie may have been, at the end of the day it was a step forward in black film (if there even is such a thing). For…  read review

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