In the universe of wokeness, this film hits a trifecta: patriarchy and insensitivity to women, xenophobia and colonialism can all get bashed. Colonial-heritage France is surprised Coly speaks in “so educated” a way. She’s such an abandoned and isolated immigrant in provincial France, sexually exploited by a man twice her age.

When she tries to cast her infanticide and fate as the result of “sorcery” and an “evil eye,” the woke viewer is left with a decision tree: do I (a) nod in respect to her “culture” and its worldview or (b) do I recognize her as the victim of postpartum depression? If you’re troubled by what path to follow where two roads diverged, you can always resort to Coly’s response. Asked by the why she murdered her child, Coly demonstrates the facility with which she can shift between old country values and those of the modern, relativistic West: she says she hopes the trial will tell her.

What one should certainly not do is imitate the male prosecutor (the only man in the court), who tries to bring the case back to the dead child and Coly’s evasions. Or be like Dumontet wanting, too late, to “talk about Lili.”

That’s exactly how most of the reviews of this film are shaking out: lots of people talking about Laurence, practically nobody talking about her baby.