The true story of a young Senegalese girl who moves to France to work as a nanny, but is soon treated as a slave. Sembène’s first feature film took him, and African cinema, to international acclaim.
Based on a short story written by Sembène himself,
Black Girl follows a painfully shy young Senegalese woman recruited as a nanny for a French family. The heartrending character is wonderfully performed by the outstanding non-professional Mbissine Thérèse Diop as Diouana. Whilst she is initially excited at the appointment, Diouana’s relocation to Antibes for work uncovers a hidden side to her employers, and she is slowly forced into the role of a domestic slave.
Black Girl is startling and harrowing, a domestic horror story revealing the injustices of colonialism.