Cannes film 'Marie Madeleine': Gessica Généus on morality and taboo in Haiti
The Haitian director's drama premiered in May in the Cannes Première section and opens in France on Oct. 21. The festival has published an interview with her.
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The Cannes Film Festival on Oct. 20 published an interview with Haitian director and actor Gessica Généus, timed to the Oct. 21 French release of her film 'Marie Madeleine.' The drama premiered May 14 in the Official Selection's Cannes Première section; Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported that the screening in the Debussy theater sold out with about 1,200 viewers.
Généus plays the title role herself, a sex worker in the coastal town of Jacmel in southern Haiti who meets Joseph (Béonard Monteau), a young evangelical believer; a bond grows between them as his faith begins to waver. The 103-minute film is a co-production of Haiti, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Canada; Pyramide is releasing it in France.
In the interview, Généus said she wanted "to explore our relationship with morality as a people in Haiti." Of the brothel setting, she said, "The film isn't even a distortion of reality; it is reality," and of the stigma, "The problem is the taboo." Her previous feature, 'Freda,' screened in Cannes' Un Certain Regard section in 2021. The 80th festival is scheduled for May 11–22, 2027.