Les saignantes, sometimes also The Bloodiest
Director: Jean-Pierre Bekolo
Writer: Jean-Pierre Bekolo
Cast: Adèle Ado, Dorylia Calmel, Emile Abossolo M’bo, Josephine Ndagnou, Essindi Mindja, Alain Dzukam Simo
Seen on: 26./27.3.2026

Plot:
Majolie (Adèle Ado) is a sex worker in trouble: during her session, her client died, and what’s worse, he was an important man. She calls her best friend Chouchou (Dorylia Calmel) for help, and the two embark on an odyssey trying to mitigate the fall-out in different ways, in events shaped by the power of Mevoungou.

Les saignantes is a strange film, if not to say incomprehensible. But while I can’t say that I really knew where it was going or what it really had to say apart from „politics are crooked“, I did enjoy the ride it took me on.

Les saignantes throws a lot at you. The film is set in 2025 (the future at the time), there is some kind of magical force, there are intertitles that ask questions about filmmaking that are about half-serious, I’d reckon. There are often cut that rewind the scene for a few second, to show things from a slightly different angle, and the plot often takes turns that cannot be understood, at least not by me, a white Austrian who has never been to Cameroon (though I don’t think that much has to do with cultural differences, to be honest).

The film was shot digitally and the production values are not great, but I thought that it added to the film’s charms. And even when I didn’t understand why Majolie and Chouchou acted the way they did, that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t engaging and funny to watch them. Most of that has to do with the charming chemistry that Ado and Calmel have both separately and together.

There seems to be a somewhat feminist critique in what the film attempts to do, but that part didn’t really work for me. The way the film lingers on Majolie’s session with her client, as well as a costume change scene felt a little to objectifying to me to really make that part fly. And while there is obviously a story about two female sex workers who go up against some powerful men and win, a lot of it gets lost in the absurdist nature of the film.

Therer were moments where the film had me laughing out loud with its plethora of absurd ideas (the film has one of the best „pulled over by the cops“ scenes ever). Other moments were too confusing for me to laugh about them. But I can honestly say that this film is very unique – and also pretty enjoyable.

Summarizing: worth giving it a try even if not everything about it works.