Drama  •  2025  •  74 min

The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire (2025)

The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire poster

The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire (2025)


Rating & Dimensions

Bias Rating
Analyzing...
Progressive
Political: Strong Left
Diversity: High
Family Values: Leans Progressive

Viewer Rating
6.9

Overview

Biographical drama 'The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire,' Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich's feature debut, follows a postpartum actress (Zita Hanrot) preparing to portray Martinican surrealist writer Suzanne Césaire, blending her experiences with historical reenactments in the tropics. Motell Gyn Foster plays Aimé Césaire, Josué Gutierrez co-stars. The contemplative film mixes narrative and abstraction.


Starring Cast

Zita Hanrot  •   Motell Gyn Foster  •   Josué Gutierrez


Where to watch

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Detailed Bias Analysis

Analyzing...
Progressive

Primary

Political: Strong Left
Confidence: High

The film centers on Suzanne Césaire's anti-colonial and feminist writings, using surrealism to critique imperial and patriarchal structures. This portrayal of progressive resistance against systemic oppression establishes its clear left-leaning orientation.

Diversity: High
Confidence: High

The film advances DEI by recasting the white European surrealist André Breton with a Latino actor and foregrounding an anti-colonial narrative that critiques imperial structures and the sidelining of Black women's contributions to surrealism and Négritude.

Secondary

Family Values: Leans Progressive
Confidence: High

Motherhood and domestic responsibilities constrain the historical figure's creative output in this experimental portrait blending biography and performance, while contemporary on-set parenting integrates fluidly with artistic labor. The decisive factor is the critique of traditional gender roles limiting women's intellectual freedom.

LGBTQ: N/A
Confidence: High

The film contains no depiction of LGBTQ+ characters or themes, focusing instead on the reclamation of Suzanne Césaire's intellectual and personal legacy.

Trans: N/A
Confidence: High

The film features no portrayal of transsexual characters or themes. It centers on the life of Martinican writer Suzanne Césaire, exploring her anti-colonial activism and surrealist writings through a metatextual lens blending archival fragments with performance.

Female Combat: N/R

The movie does not contain any action or adventure elements.

Gender Swap: No
Confidence: High

The film depicts historical figures including Suzanne Césaire as female and Aimé Césaire as male, portrayed by actors Zita Hanrot and Motell Gyn Foster respectively, with no alterations to their established genders.

Race Swap: No
Confidence: High

The biopic-style film casts Zita Hanrot, of mixed French and Jamaican descent, in the central role tied to the Black Martinican writer Suzanne Césaire, and Motell Gyn Foster as her husband Aimé Césaire, aligning with their historical racial backgrounds. No race swaps occur in portrayals of key figures.


Viewer Rating Breakdown

6.9

Viewer Rating

Combines user and critic ratings from four sources

User Ratings

IMDB logo
5.3
The Movie Database logo
6.0

Critic Ratings

Rotten Tomatoes logo
8.7
Metacritic logo
7.5

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