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La Souffleuse

« as meaning needs words, so words need our voice »

Atlantique – Water’s Light

© Ad Vitam Distribution, film poster of Atlantique

If there is one concept that cannot be omitted in the attempt to capture the elusive Atlantique, it is that of the uncanny. Behind its aspect of realism, hand-held camera, sand everywhere infiltrated and bland social denunciation, the work immerses its viewer in troubled waters. In the aridity of a Senegal however the prey to ocean spray, the portrait of forbidden love and disappearance is striking. Not through the characters, voluntarily kept at a distance, but thanks to the beauty of the photography. The image captures the ocean’s violent lights and the softness of the wind rustling the curtains’ transparency. By turns caressing and provoking, the camera capsizes us. Mati Diop depicts a youth for whom hope is denied and whose restless souls people Dakar and its wastelands of wealth and poverty. Disturbing and new, even if Atlantique sometimes loses at the game of distance, it intrigues its viewers enough for them to wait for only one thing: the next movie.

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