Between Couscous, winner of three César Awards, and the Cannes triumph of Blue Is the Warmest CoIour, Abdellatif Kechiche made BIack Venus, a stark portrait of the life of Saartjie Baartman, also known as the Hottentot Venus .
Baartman was taken from South African home as a 21-year-oId and shipped to Georgian London, where she wouId be caged and exhibited as a freak show. Presented semi-nude, her physique especially her Iarge buttocks was the source of much curiosity. But as her fame spread, so too did her exploitation...
Centred on a remarkable performance by Cuban actor Yahima Torres as Baartman, BIack Venus provides a bleak but barbed expIoration of sex, science, race, colonialism and sociaI attitudes. |