THE WOMAN WITH A KNIFE
La femme au couteau
Synopsis
A young, unnamed Ivorian intellectual returns home after a lengthy spell in Europe. Failing to reconcile his new-found modernist views with his African traditions, the man becomes haunted by the specter of a knife-brandishing woman threatening to shatter any potential relationships with other women.
Synopsis
A young, unnamed Ivorian intellectual returns home after a lengthy spell in Europe. Failing to reconcile his new-found modernist views with his African traditions, the man becomes haunted by the specter of a knife-brandishing woman threatening to shatter any potential relationships with other women.
Our take
A provocative classic of Ivorian cinema, Timité Bassori’s visionary debut is steeped in psychoanalytic symbolism, charting the postcolonial tug-and-pull between African traditions and European influences. Set to a jazz-inflected score, thorny sexual politics unfurl in feverish, dreamlike imagery.