[Mr. Sembène's] sadly pensive story of a young Dakar girl hired as a governess for a white couple's three children appears unevenly weighted in favor of Mr. Sembène's dolorous thesis.
Black Girl(La Noire de...)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Senegal, France · 1966
1h 0m
Director Ousmane Sembène
Starring Mbissine Thérèse Diop, Anne-Marie Jelinek, Robert Fontaine, Momar Nar Sene
Genre Drama
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Eager to find a better life abroad, a young Senegalese woman named Diouana accepts a job as a maid and a nanny for a wealthy white family in France. Upon beginning the job, however, Diouana is shocked by the brutal treatment and racism she endures at the hands of her new employers. Based on an article that director Ousmane Sembène found in a newspaper.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Slant Magazine by Eric Henderson
Decolonization in Black Girl isn't only a myth, but also a myth that actually strengthens the consumerist caste systems.
Village Voice by Melissa Anderson
Formally spartan, Ousmane Sembène's Black Girl (1966) is dense with cool fury.
The Seattle Times by Moira Macdonald
It’s a remarkable personal-is-political drama, set in barely postcolonial Senegal and France.
The New Yorker by Richard Brody
Ousmane Sembène, in his first feature film, from 1966—which is also widely considered the first feature made by an African—distills a vast range of historical crises and frustrated ambitions into an intimate, straightforwardly realistic drama.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
The weakness of Black Girl is in its slow, journeyman style; one feels that Sembene learned filmmaking by making this film. It also suffers from a kind of primitive naturalism, as if the script were by James T. Farrell out of Theodore Dreiser. Every motive is spelled out in unnecessary detail, and little attempt is made to get into the minds of the characters.
Users who liked this film also liked
Battleship Potemkin
(Броненосец Потёмкин)
Revolution is the only lawful, equal, effectual war. It was in Russia that this war was declared and begun.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Soviet Union • 1925
- Director Sergei Eisenstein
- Cast Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barsky, Grigori Aleksandrov, Ivan Bobrov, Mikhail Gomorov, Aleksandr Levshin
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Criterion Channel, FlixFling, Klassiki, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Kino Film Collection, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Kanopy, Hoopla, Public Domain Movies
Orpheus
(Orphée)
After a rival poet is killed in a fight, Orphée follows the body, and a beautiful woman, to the underworld.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1950
- Director Jean Cocteau
- Cast Jean Marais, María Casares, François Périer, Marie Déa, Juliette Gréco, Henri Crémieux
- Genre Drama, Fantasy, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max
The Battle of Algiers
(La battaglia di Algeri)
The revolt that stirred the world!
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Algeria, Italy • 1966
- Director Gillo Pontecorvo
- Cast Brahim Hadjadj, Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi, Ugo Paletti, Fusia El Kader, Samia Kerbash
- Genre Drama, History, War
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy
Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India
(लगान)
Local politics and colonial justice meet in a game of cricket.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- India • 2001
- Director Ashutosh Gowariker
- Cast Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley, Paul Blackthorne, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rajendranath Zutshi
- Genre Adventure, Drama, Music, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Silent Wedding
(Nunta mută)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Romania, Luxembourg, France • 2008
- Director Horațiu Mălăele
- Cast Meda Andreea Victor, Alexandru Potocean, Valentin Teodosiu, Alexandru Bindea, Ioana Anastasia Anton, Luminița Gheorghiu
- Genre Comedy, Drama, History
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Moolaadé
A woman goes against the tradition of her village.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Senegal, Burkina Faso, Morocco • 2004
- Director Ousmane Sembène
- Cast Fatoumata Coulibaly, Maimouna Hélène Diarra, Salimata Traoré, Dominique Zeïda, Rasmané Ouédraogo, Joseph Traoré
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Dry Summer
(Susuz Yaz)
A scheming tobacco farmer sets out to ruin his competition by diverting the local water to his own property.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey • 1963
- Director Metin Erksan
- Cast Hülya Koçyiğit, Erol Taş, Ulvi Doğan, Alaettin Altiok, Hakkı Haktan, Zeki Tüney
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
The Wagoner
(Borom sarret)
A wagon cabbie risks losing his cart when a Frenchman wants a ride to a community where carts are not permitted.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Senegal • 1963
- Director Ousmane Sembène
- Cast Ly Abdoulay, Albourah
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Absolutely Fabulous
(Absolument fabuleux)
- ✭ ✭
- France • 2001
- Director Gabriel Aghion
- Cast Josiane Balasko, Nathalie Baye, Marie Gillain, Vincent Elbaz, Claude Gensac, Yves Rénier
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Black Test Car
(黒の試走車)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1962
- Director Yasuzō Masumura
- Cast Jirō Tamiya, Junko Kano, Eiji Funakoshi, Hideo Takamatsu, Ichirō Sugai, Kichijirô Ueda
- Genre Thriller, Drama, Action
- Available on ARROW, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
Bajrangi Bhaijaan
(बजरंगी भाईजान)
Against all odds, an Indian man seeks to reunite a lost mute Pakistani girl with her family.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- India • 2015
- Director Kabir Khan
- Cast Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Harshaali Malthotra, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rajesh Sharma
- Genre Action, Bollywood, Comedy, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Clash
(إشتباك)
Conflict is on the inside.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Egypt, France • 2016
- Director Mohamed Diab
- Cast Nelly Karim, Hani Adel, Mohamed El Sebaii, Tarek Abdel Aziz, Hosny Sheta, Ahmed Dash
- Genre Thriller, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy