21/05/2023 - CANNES 2023: After a surprise invitation to vie for the Palme d’Or, Ramata-Toulaye Sy reveals an undeniably atmospheric feature debut beneath the symbolic surface of a story that gets down to basics

Khady Mane and Mamadou Diallo in Banel & Adama

Once upon a time, on the banks of a river in a small village in northern Senegal, two youngsters were in love. “It was the best of times, or so it would seem.” Ramata-Toulaye Sy has chosen a lyrical, poetic, expressionistic exploration, verging on magical realism – where the desires and beliefs of human beings intermingle with the mighty powers of nature – as the subject matter of her feature debut, Banel & Adama [+see also:
trailer
interview: Ramata-Toulaye Sy
film profile], which has landed straight in competition at the 76th Cannes Film Festival. It’s a film where we encounter the gaze of an “angel scribe, who collects your good deeds and your bad deeds”, a simple child who observes the world around him, and how the heart and the power of reason, individualism and collectivism, the push for freedom and the laws dictated by traditions, are locked in an understated struggle under the sun and in people’s souls.

Banel (Khady Mane) loves Adama (Mamadou Diallo), and Adama loves Banel. As is customary, Adama has already married the woman who had been the second wife of his father, who passed away recently. The two youngsters are good-looking and happy, leading the cows out to pasture, hand in hand. They are also secretly digging in order to unearth houses swallowed up by the sand and thus be able to settle somewhere well away from the rest of the community. For the pretty eyes of Banel, 19-year-old Adama even refuses (much to the chagrin of his mother) the title of village chief, which is a role he had been destined for because of his lineage, and for which he had been prepared. However, a drought takes hold, the cows begin to die, and the men do too, while others start leaving the area. They all keep an eye on the skies, desperate for rain, and Adama, who becomes increasingly absent due to his preoccupations with the fate of the villagers, temporarily shelves their plans to live together elsewhere. Banel finds it harder and harder to cope with this situation and the days spent waiting, secluding herself, defying and believing she can bypass the village traditions, picking off all the lizards within reach with a slingshot to let off steam, and giving up on a dangerous, obsessive love.

Beneath its outer narrative layer that gets down to basics, Banel & Adama reveals itself to have a finely honed, suggestive and sensitive outline, encompassing monotonous chants, whispers, flocks of birds, trees and their huge roots, petrified branches, graves, campfires, prayer and discussion circles, and particularly faces and postures whose subtlest nuances express so much, amidst the sweat and the tears. It all makes for a striking atmospheric whole that is highly sophisticated in terms of the sound design, and is further elevated by the magnificent score by Bachar Mar-Khalife as well as Amine Berrada’s sensorial cinematography. By choosing Africa as the setting for her feature debut, French-Senegalese helmer Ramata-Toulaye Sy not only respects the foundations of the local culture, but also, and above all, demonstrates that she has an assured sense of how powerful images can be. Add to this a metaphorical layer alluding to the state of the world ("The weather is changing because people are changing") and a portrayal of the place reserved for women, from which they struggle to extricate themselves, plus a touch of mysticism or perhaps even latent madness, and you will understand why this young filmmaker has a bright future ahead of her.

Banel & Adama was produced by French outfits La Chauve-Souris and Take Shelter, and was co-produced by Senegal’s Astou Production, Mali’s DS Production and Arte France Cinéma. Its international sales are handled by Best Friend Forever.

(Translated from French)

Photogallery 20/05/2023: Cannes 2023 - Banel & Adama

17 pictures available. Swipe left or right to see them all.

{0} of {1}

Ramata-Toulaye Sy, Khady Mane, Mamadou Diallo
© 2023 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa - fadege.it, @fadege.it