In Rosine Mbakam’s narrative debut Mambar Pierrette, a double whammy hits the titular character (Pierrette Aboheu). She’s a Douala based seamstress, earning tens of thousands of CFA Francs for her work, even though the overinflation of that currency means that she’s only making twenty dollars a dress. A motorcycle taxi driver robs her, and this happens to her during back to school season, which is also rainy season, causing for her house to flood. Any setback that may affect her also affects her children who, instead of buying things they want, they have to buy things that they need. Cameroonian bureaucracy also isn’t helpful. Since she didn’t marry her deadbeat husband, she has less rights than a wife and government agents treat her badly.
Pierrette, by the way, is Mbakam’s debut into fiction. In depicting her characters’ stories, she casts her cousin like Aboheu as well as people within her community. Her approach with the cats and characters are improvisational. But the dialogue still feels like it’s saying too much when a slighter push and pull approach may be better. As I write this though, even if it says a lot, the images contextualize a lot more. As mich as the two bug plot points are necessary, I feel as if some of the conversations make for a rich enough text. Aboheu’s chemistry with the first time actors playing her clients (Cecile tchana and Karelle Kenmogne) capture both the business side and the friendships that these characters have.
- Rated: NR
- Genre: Drama
- Release Date: 9/10/2023
- Directed by: Rosine Mbakam
- Starring: Cécile Tchana, Karelle Kenmogne, Pierrette Aboheu
- Written by: Rosine Mbakam
- Studio: RTBF, Tândor Productions, TV5MONDE
