Cette Maison

The possibilities of this dream state. That it allows us to access the grieving mother’s perspective, or perhaps an idealized version of this perspective.

Warning: heavy engagement of death, suicide, grief, and mourning below. Particularly of an Afro-Caribbean diasporic girl child. Please take good care when reading.

We had so many questions. Though the film is very clearly and concretely staged - where something happens, when, and why is a constellation which shades into different angles and refracts across space. So, here were some of the questions we had.

Where did Terra die? Quebec or Haiti?

Perhaps Quebec? Perhaps Connecticut? Perhaps her death began in Quebec? Perhaps the death of her family, her mother, began in Quebec. Why there was so much sadness at the end because the main character and her mother already plan to move to Stamford.

Why were the main characters traveling through Haiti?

We hadn’t thought of this possibility! We thought, perhaps, it was symbolic travel; in the mind of the mother, taking her daughter’s memory back to Haiti. We also thought it might be because the mother may have committed suicide, as the social workers worried, to be with her child, and together they return to Haiti.

Are they actually supposed to be in Haiti? And are they Haiti scenes with the performers actually shot in Haiti?

We couldn’t make this out! What do y’all think? Comment below.

Here are some other things we liked about Cette Maison.

• The possibilities of this dream state. That it allows us to access the grieving mother’s perspective, or perhaps an idealized version of this perspective.

• The staging! How the film actualizes the space and relationship between the characters. Each have their own space time; and Mom and Terra have their own spacetime together.

• And the food scenes! Feel so authentic. You could feel the preparation that went into each dish, even though they’re the result of set design. Curtis’s favorite scene is the cooking scene just before the Quebec referendum victory party.

• The mother character. Really liked her performance, particularly in her physicality.

The staging! How the film actualizes the space and relationship between the characters. Each have their own space time; and Mom and Terra have their own spacetime together.