The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire
An actress, three months post-partum, reads through fragments of the archive of Suzanne Césaire as she prepares to perform excerpts of the writer's work.
The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire, Madeline Hunt-Ehrlich
The feature debut of visual artist Madeline Hunt-Ehrlich nests well within her collection of work as a composer of beautiful imagery. Far from a film for the idle viewer, Hunt-Ehrlich plays with what is not seen and said to construct a complete picture of what we don’t know about Suzanne Césaire.
We watch as an actress (Zita Hanrot), 3 months postpartum prepares to play Suzanne Césaire in an upcoming film in a meta breaking of the fourth wall. The first imagery is of people dancing to drums, which are themselves centred in the 1hr film. This sets the tone for the rest of the viewing, which has very little dialogue throughout and instead uses extensive b-roll of the Caribbean greenery. It feels fitting, potentially aided by a pre-existing understanding of Césaire’s work, to focus on nature, which Hanrot tells us featured prominently in her work.
At first, the images appear superfluous, and certainly the scene of a crew member guiding a truck as it reverses doesn’t add much narratively. However, other b-roll such as a close-up of paper burning are much more relevant, referencing Césaire burning most of her writing. The choice to omit much dialogue serves the film well. Focusing on Césaire’s own writing and accounts from her family centres what is contemporaneously available to accurately scrutinise her character, whilst avoiding an overly revisionist retelling of someone we know very little about.
This is an unusual biopic of a historical figure, and it falls short of delivering a deeper understanding of the artists, including the two men who eclipsed her life’s work – her husband, the poet and politician Aime Césaire (Motell Gyn Foster) and their friend , the surrealist Andre Breton (Josué Gutierrez) who was ironically inspired by her work but more renowned. But this is entirely deliberate. Hunt-Ehrlich didn’t presume to add details that history has kept, and remained as faithful as the source material would allow. Further details of Césaire are dropped in from familial accounts read allowed by cast and crew.
“This is an unusual biopic of a historical figure”
The attentive viewer benefits from a richer experience, as they will reap the small details delivered through the casts’ powerful court performances. The focus on Hanrot as she plays with children or interacts with Aime and Andre seek to add colour to the oft overshadowed lives of women, and attempt to portray how Césaire, herself a mother of 6 children, and a teacher might have passed her days.
Each line is given time to breathe, interrupted only by the soundscape of the Martinican jungle, allowing the audience to fully grasp the Beaty of Césaire’s writing. Additionally, each interruption and pause allows the audience to feel the temporal space between each of Césaire’s published essays, before she excused herself from publication entirely. It lets the beauty of Césaire’s writing take centre stage, retroactively highlighting the underwritten author.
The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire is an innovative piece that uses visual and natural soundscapes more than words, relying on the authenticity of the cast to deliver what is normally told, rather than shown. Though Hunt-Ehrlich takes some creative freedom, she stays true to the surrealist nature of Césaire ministry, as leaves much to the interpretation. This, we are allowed a rich experience that can be renewed with each watch. More is discovered about the role Martinique played in Caribbean colonial rebellion and the inter-connectivity of the islands. Ions is left wanting to know more and the artist that tried to erase herself.
One gets the sense that Césaire was an ordinary woman, speaking on pertinent issues that happened to resonate with thousands after her passing. This film is a surrealist interpretation of an artist, living an ordinary life, who didn’t want to be remembered – and yet had a profound impact for generations to come. A surrealist creation.
Release Date: June 6th, 2025 (U.S.)
Directed by Madeline Hunt-Ehrlich
Written by Madeline Hunt-Ehrlich, Marina Magloire
Produced by Sophie Luo, Mike S. Ryan
Starring Zita Hanrot, Motell Foster, Josué Gutierrez
Cinematography by Alex Ashe
Runtime: 75 minutes.