Starring Sylvie Testud, this daringly original work of art deploys a succession of unforgettable visual metaphors to build an atmosphere of near-mystical intensity. The dramatic Haitian countryside is juxtaposed with odd events inside a crumbling mansion consecrated to Caucasian dominance. As a white matriarch declines towards death, and a school-marmish young woman (Testud) struggles to control her young native charges, director Michelange Quay displays a remarkable eye: order has never collapsed so elegantly.