African traditions are called into question through the difficulties of a young intellectual traumatised by too strict an upbringing in Africa.

Timité Bassori, 1969, Côte d'Ivoire, 90 min.

Timité Bassori wanted African cinema to unsettle the Africans. Here, the Western virus of Freudian psychology is graphically introduced into a story laid out in traditional African terms. Yet African traditions are clearly being called into question through the difficulties of a young intellectual from the Ivory Coast, played by Bassori himself, who apparently is traumatised by an overly strict upbringing in Africa. When he returns home, after a long period in Europe, he has to face up to the difficulties of readjusting to his society and to his strong sexual inhibition, made manifest by the recurring appearance of a woman brandishing an impressive knife, which paralyzes him with terror, and prevents him from having relations with women. He turns to traditional healers and medicine, but to no avail. Like in that other famous woman-with-a-knife film, he must finally confront the image of his mother.
IFFR 2010

Cast (in alphabetical order)
Danielle Alloh
Emmanuel Diaman
Bertin Kouakou
Bassori Timité
Mary Vieyra

Director: Timité Bassori
Print source: Cinémathèque Afrique (Paris)
Production Company
Société Ivoirienne de Cinéma


FESTIVALS

2010 | 39th IFFR - International Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands | 5 February 2010 | www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/films/la-femme-au-couteau/
* Signals- Where Is Africa