The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire

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The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire

Released Jun 6

1h 14m

Biography

Drama

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15 Reviews

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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.

Jonathan Romney

Financial Times

This succinct, elliptical feature by American filmmaker and visual artist Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich is not so much about its subject as it is a cinematic song or poem for her.

Rated: 3/5

Jul 19, 2025

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

If this chamber-piece film is a little opaque, perhaps that is because Césaire herself is opaque.

Rated: 3/5

Jul 14, 2025

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William Repass

Slant Magazine

This film essay ultimately argues unconvincingly against art’s right to imagination.

Rated: 2.5/4

Jun 1, 2025

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Nick Hasted

The Arts Desk

Hunt-Erlich anyway conveys forest stillness, and something of the intellectual and ecological atmosphere of Césaire’s life, the landscape in which she moved. Saturated 16mm film adds to this tangibility even as...the director’s subject stays elusive.

Rated: 3/5

Jul 22, 2025

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Amber Wilkinson

Eye for Film

The word ballad is a good choice in the title because Hunt-Ehrlich’s film is a rhythms and muse affair.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jul 22, 2025

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Marya E. Gates

Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack)

The film uses fragments of her extant work and letters to paint a portrait of a woman who lived for her moment, and often critiqued its inequality with razor sharp insights. All of this is given an otherworldly, lyrical haze by cinematographer Alex Ashe.

Jun 14, 2025

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Madeleine Hunt Ehrlich

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Synopsis

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.

Director: Madeleine Hunt Ehrlich
Producer: Sophie Luo, Mike S. Ryan
Screenwriter: Madeleine Hunt Ehrlich, Madeleine Hunt Ehrlich
Distributor: The Cinema Guild
Genre: Biography, Drama
Original Language: French
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 6, 2025, Limited
Runtime: 1h 14m