what happened in eve's bayou

Roz tried to protect Cisely, but it was her own blindness to the extent of her husband's true evil that did not enable her to do so.

We know that merely wishing someone dead doesn’t make it so, but our superstitious brains and secret hearts believe it to be true. He even states that he waited for her.

The unreliability of memory and observation remain important themes throughout the film. She goes to the market looking for Elzora and runs into Mr. Mereaux. Eve's relationship with her parents becomes more strained as she discovers more evidence of her father's serial infidelity. At least, Eve has Louis’ sister Mozelle (Debbi Morgan) and her sweet husband Harry (Branford Marsalis), but she is disappointed about her father not dancing with her, and she promptly goes outside the house then sneaks into the warehouse.

The best performance in the film comes from Debbi Morgan, who is unforgettable as a sad but passionate woman who can foretell many things about others but not herself and the men coming into her life. In honor of Black Women’s History Month, we’re taking the opportunity to put a spotlight on black women behind the camera – directors who broke through systemic barriers to bring their singular perspective to some of cinema’s most intriguing works.).

Like you, I saw this when I was younger and didn't really 'get' it. In the conversation, she alludes to a possible tryst between his wife, Matty and her father. Enraged, Eve seeks out a local witch, Elzora (Diahann Carroll), to commission a voodoo spell to put a fatal curse on her father. Lewis wants to be doted on despite his abusive behavior and teaches his daughter to do what her mother won't -- to the point of comforting him with sexual favors. In the conversation, she alludes to a possible tryst between his wife, Matty, and her father. Eve decides to believe her sister and that her father was probably covering his ass by lying to Mozelle in the letter. Infidelity, an over-protective mother, the psychic aunt's tragic loss of loves and a delicious dose of voodoo all make this a good watch. After Eve has a confusing vision of something terrible happening, Mozelle informs her that the gift of second sight runs in their family. Begin typing your search above and press return to search. While her father Louis (Samuel L. Jackson) is a successful doctor who is also pretty popular around the town, his wife Roz (Lynn Whitfield) is a fair lady with grace and class. The next morning, Eve finds Cisely crying in bed, while her bloody panties lay on the floor. The unreliability of memory and observation remain important themes throughout the film.

Now that I've rewatched the film with older eyes, it's painfully obvious that Lewis Batiste (Samuel Jackson) was sleeping with his eldest daughter, Cisely (Meagan Good). Starring said: ↑ I own the DVD and the character they cut out was an uncle. Of course she would believe the best in Lewis. A long time ago, a slave woman named Eve saved her French master’s life through her powerful medicine, and she was rewarded with not only freedom but also a piece of land. Eve is a child and doesn't understand what she is seeing -- neither did I when I first saw this film. It also received positive reception from Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Observer and the Washington Post.

When returning to the witch to get her doll she is informed that there is no doll and that a curse has been placed on her father.

Contrary to the sexist stereotypes, we don't howl at the moon and become violent, angry, and irrational once a month.

On Eve's Bayou, what actually happened between the older daughter and the father? Editing by In the letter, it's revealed that Mozelle knew all along that her brother was molesting Cisely and made accusations against him. I also never quite understood why Cisely flipped out and tried to strangle her sister because Eve threatened to tell their father about it.

Eve later learns that Cisely in fact came onto her father and tried to get sexual with him. I must confess that the movie drew my attention only after I came to learn that my late friend/mentor Roger Ebert picked it as the best film of 1997.

Eve then gets cold feet and goes to El to put a stop to the curse only to be informed that the hex is now in place and cannot be broken.

Their three dear children have grown up in an affluent and sophisticated environment, as reflected when one of them quotes a line from a classic play by William Shakespeare. On February 16, 2009, Debbi Morgan's portrayal of Mozelle Batiste Delacroix was included in Pop Matters' "100 Essential Female Film Performances" list. It is in this way that she discovers her father's affair with Mrs. Mereaux (Lisa Nicole Carson), the wife of his best friend. When Cisely's baffled parents asks her what she wants to do, it shouldn't be shocking that she should want to get the hell away from them. Cinematographer Amy Vincent gives us numerous beautiful shots which feel bright and colorful on the whole while also suggesting secret and darkness lurking near. The reason for this is actually quite sinister. Jurnee Smollett as Eve in Eve’s Bayou: I also think Eve’s Bayou is remarkably truthful and recognizable in its depiction of childhood, with all its joys, confusions, frustrations, and fears. Lenny shows up pissed and on seeing Louis whips out a gun and empties it's contents into Louis outside the bar as his wife and Eve look on (due to Louis been the goading wise ass he is). Cisely, being so young, has been brainwashed to believe that she must take her mother's place. Although she directed only one short film before moving onto the next step, she made quite an impressive film to admire and cherish for her superlative handling of mood and storytelling. Because all this crying and drama makes no sense otherwise. Like most people my age, I first saw Eve's Bayou when I was a kid. Wait for things to get better. Transcript • Trailer transcripts • Gallery • Trivia • Credits • Awards • Home media • Production Music by

Kasi Lemmons Cisely comes into conflict with both her sister and mother as she enters puberty and tries to navigate the difficult transition to adulthood, particularly with regard to her appearance and sexuality.

Produced by Variety magazine said, "Kasi Lemmons' "Eve's Bayou" is an intensely emotional family drama that mixes elements of Southern Gothic with the kinds of characters and tensions that prevail in the plays of Tennessee Williams and other Southern writers. This is the worst, most disgusting "advice" in the world, and it's constantly given to women, who are expected to put their own needs aside, put their lives on hold, and wait around for their husbands to stop emotionally abusing them. When asked for a reading by Roz, Elzora implies that an unexpected "solution" to her problem will arise, but to wait and look to her children in the meantime. Roz, after years of looking the other way, finally, angrily confronts Louis about his behavior, and becomes obsessed with protecting her children after a vague warning from a fortuneteller.

In February of 2008, "Eve's Bayou" made TIME's list of "The 25 Most Important Films on Race.".

It freely drifts around emotional realism and … The biggest mistakes in the Harry Potter movies, 25 mistakes you never noticed in great movies, The 20 biggest mistakes in The Wizard of Oz, 40 biggest mistakes in The Big Bang Theory. Alcohol doesn't create behavior -- it gives people the courage to do the terrible things they already wanted to do. It ends with the sisters holding hands, gazing at the sunset.

Kasi Lemmons’ 1997 feature debut Eve’s Bayou could have easily been a stock melodrama about an upper-class family torn apart by secrets and lies, but its eerie Southern Gothic undertones and opaque “but maybe it happened this way” narrative elevated it to one of the most underrated movies of the 90s. Spurned on by learning her older sister Cisely one night had their father came onto her Eve goes to Elzora to curse Louis, she also informs Lenny Mereaux that his wife is getting too friendly with her dad. Once Lewis (finally) gets shot, Cisely breaks down crying at his funeral. The words explain the method of the film.

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