MADAME BROUETTE (2002, Senegal/Canada, 104 min.), directed by Moussa Sene Absa; screenplay by Moussa Sene Absa and Gilles Desjardins; cinematography by Jean-Jacques Bouhon; edited by Matthieu Roy-Décarie; art direction by Moustapha (Picasso) Ndiaye; costumes by Fatou Kandé; music by Majoly & Serge Fiori and Mamadou Diabaté; with Rokhaya Niang (Mati, Mme Brouette), Aboubacar Sadikh Bâ (Naago), Kadiatou Sy (Ndaxté, Mati’s friend),  Ndèye Sénéba Seck (Ndèye, Mati’s daughter), Akéla Sagna (London Pipe), Moustapha Niang (Samba, Ndèye’s friend), Juliette Aïta Bâ (Xuja, Naago’s Girlfriend), Mody Fall (Inspector Colombo), Pape Mboup (The Griot), Ousseynou Diop (Chief Police Commissioner).  In French with English subtitles.

 

Please answer the following, with longer answers (around 150 words) to three.  One of the three should be to the final question.

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1.         Why the title (literally, it translates as Mrs. Wheelbarrow)?

 

 

 

 

2.         This is a film about domestic violence, in many ways a melodrama, yet it tells its story in a unique way--visually, aurally, and in terms of its narrative structure.   How would you characterize the style of this film?

 

 

 

 

3.         As the film opens, a group of women enter a town square (in the low-income neighborhood of Thiokeer in Dakar) and some griots begin to sing their first of many songs that we will hear over the course of the film: Hear this ode, beautiful woman!  You see, I am your mother.  Your tears banish my joy.  Now come, take your first steps in life.  Wealth may disappear one day, but love is eternal.  So come, take refuge in my arms.  What is the point of this song?  What is established in this opening sequence?

 

 

 

 

4.         You’ll see that this is another film that uses a fractured narrative structure—this time starting with a murder, then flashing back and forth between “past” and “present.”  What is accomplished by the decision to use this kind of structure?

 

 

 

 

5.         Discuss Mati (“Madame Brouette”), the film’s central character.  How would you describe her?  What motivates her?  Does she develop over the course of the film?

 

 

 

 

6.         Discuss Mati’s relationship with her daughter, Ndèye.

 

 

 

 

7.         Now discuss her relationship with her good friend, Ndaxté.

 

 

 

 

8.         Now discuss her relationship with her parents.

 

 

 

 

9.         Discuss her boyfriend, Naago, the policeman.  What does he want?  What attracts him to Mati?  Is he at all complex?

 

 

 

 

10.       What role do the griots play in the film?  What kinds of messages are contained in the lyrics of the songs?

 

 

 

 

11.       Speaking of music, Madame Brouette has been widely recognized for its music, e.g., winning the Silver Bear award for Best Music at the Berlin Film Festival.  Discuss the role of music in this film.

 

 

 

 

12.       Moussa Sane Absa, the director, is also a highly regarded visual artist.  What do you notice about the visuals in this film?  Notice in particular how costuming and colors are being used.

 

 

 

 

13.       Discuss the ending.  In what ways does the ending tie up the narrative threads?  Does it make sense as an ending?

 

 

 

 

14.       Discuss the song that is sung (by Mati’s daughter, Ndèye, over the end-credits).  In particular, discuss what it has to say about the partridge (in Wolof, that’s a thiokeer, also the name of their neighborhood), a metaphor that has been present throughout the film.

 

 

 

 

15.       What are some of the ways in which this film is working with themes and story elements that we’ve seen in other films this term?

 

 

 

 

16.       Discuss the interview with the director.  What are some of the interesting things that you take away from it?

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