Eve's Bayou

1996

Eve's Bayou

Critics Consensus

No consensus yet.

81%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 53

90%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 8,281

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Movie Info

Black female writer-director Kasi Lemmons made her feature directorial debut with this period family drama set in the South. Depicting the the African-American experience with a female slant, Lemmons shunned the usual urban violence and race issues of black films for a different approach, a jambalaya of Southern gentility, bayou traditions, and voodoo visions. The Southern Gothic saga pivots around a prosperous Creole family in Louisiana during the year 1962 -- as seen through the eyes of intensely curious, precocious, and perceptive ten-year-old Eve Batiste (Jurnee Smollett). Eve's coming-of-age events are introduced through her adult voiceover narration (Tamara Tunie), which begins, "Memory is a selection of images, some elusive, others printed indelibly on the brain. The summer I killed my father, I was ten years old." Her father, Louis Batiste (Samuel L. Jackson), is the area's much-respected doctor, and the proud and beautiful Roz (Lynn Whitfield) is Eve's mother. But Louis has an eye for other women, and after Eve catches him in the barn with an attractive, married woman, Matty Mereaux (Lisa Nicole Carson), he must reassure the child that he still loves her mother. Nevertheless, Eve is shaken by what she has seen, and she tells her older sister Cisely (Meagan Good). Eve's impulsive Aunt Mozelle (Debbi Morgan), a sexy, superstitious widow with three past husbands, has taken on a new lover, Julian Grayraven (Vondie Curtis Hall). Finding her beliefs in family loyalty crumbling, the young girl visits voodoo priestess Elzora (Diahann Carroll). A Pandora's box of long-buried Batiste clan secrets has been opened beneath the shade of the magnolia trees, and Eve struggles through the summer to save her family. Filmed on location by cinematographer Amy Vincent. Actor Vondie Curtis Hall is the husband of director Lemmons. Shown at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals.
  • Rating:
    R (For sexuality and language)
  • Genre:
    Drama
  • Directed By:
    Kasi Lemmons
  • Written By:
    Kasi Lemmons
  • In Theaters:
     wide
  • On Disc/Streaming:
  • Runtime:
  • Studio:
    Lions Gate Films

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Cast

Jurnee Smollett-Bell
as Eve Batiste
Meagan Good
as Cisely Batiste
Samuel L. Jackson
as Louis Batiste
Lynn Whitfield
as Roz Batiste
Debbi Morgan
as Mozelle Batiste Delacroix
Jake Smollet
as Poe Batiste
Jake Smollett
as Poe Baptiste
Ethel Ayler
as Gran Mere
Diahann Carroll
as Elzora
Vondie Curtis-Hall
as Julian Grayraven
Lisa Nicole Carson
as Matty Mereaux
Tamara Tunie
as Narrator
Roger Guenveur Smith
as Lenny Mereaux
Branford Marsalis
as Harry Delacroix
Afonda Colbert
as Henrietta
Lola Dalferes
as Lynette
Marcus Lyle Brown
as Hosea
Alverta Perkins Dunigan
as Paige
Ron Flagge
as Vendor
Sharon K. London
as Hilary
Carol Sutton
as Madame Renard
Victoria Rowell
as Stevie Hobbs
Oneal A. Isaac
as Bus Driver
Julian Dalcour
as Bartender
Leonard Thomas
as Maynard
Allen Toussaint
as Proprietor
Billie Neal
as Ghost of Original Eve
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Critic Reviews for Eve's Bayou

All Critics (53) | Top Critics (17)

  • This one is the real torch carrier for a literate new beginning.

    Feb 7, 2018 | Full Review…

    Paul Tatara

    CNN.com
    Top Critic

  • Subplots are woven stealthily into the story, taking the pressure off the central drama, allowing it to be affecting rather than melodramatic, and heightening the atmosphere of the lush Louisiana setting.

    Mar 19, 2008 | Full Review…

    Lisa Alspector

    Chicago Reader
    Top Critic

  • A sparkling directorial debut.

    Apr 27, 2007 | Full Review…

    Andrew Sarris

    Observer
    Top Critic

  • An intensely emotional drama that mixes elements of Southern Gothic with the kinds of characters and tensions that prevail in the plays of Southern writers like Tennessee Williams.

    Jun 24, 2006 | Rating: 3/4

    Emanuel Levy

    Variety
    Top Critic

  • Writer/director Kasi Lemmons shows sweet judgment here, doesn't caricature or demonise the errant father, and elicits a host of nuanced performances from women of all ages.

    Jun 24, 2006 | Full Review…
    Time Out
    Top Critic

  • A gothic and, for better or worse, poetic memoir about a young girl and her family of Creole aristocrats.

    Jun 18, 2002 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…

    Mick LaSalle

    San Francisco Chronicle
    Top Critic
View All Critic Reviews (53)

Audience Reviews for Eve's Bayou

  • Mar 08, 2018
    A lyrical meditation on childhood and memory. The film only gets better the more Lemmons shades the supporting characters , subplots, and supernatural elements .
    Alec B Super Reviewer
  • Apr 18, 2013
    A young girl with a philandering father and a psychic aunt comes of age in a Louisiana bayou. Strictly in the tradition of Southern Gothic storytelling, this film falls all too often into cliche -- cliches that anyone familiar with the Southern Gothic genre know all too well. The atmosphere of the film, which most people liked, is created by the soft monologues and the panning scenic shots, but I found the monologues poorly written and detracting from the scene and the connective tissue of the film doesn't do much to advance the central story. Young Jurnee Smollett is quite good, capturing her character's childhood innocence, but her elocution betrays her inexperience, and Lynn Whitfield is responsible for making her monologues feel like departures rather than necessary elements of the story. Overall, this is a basic Southern Gothic film, and if you've seen them all, then you've seen this one.
    Jim H Super Reviewer
  • Apr 13, 2010
    Kasi Lemmons masterpiece. Amy Vincent's cinematography is just down right beautiful and an all star cast proving real acting strength. It's not so much of the plot but the conflict within the characters. Particularly the young girl Eve Batiste played by Jurnee Smollett. The film really takes you along a journey where I didn't know what was to be expected but everything comes into place perfectly. It's a great film and highly recommended.
    Brian R Super Reviewer
  • Jan 04, 2010
    Should have received more attention at the time of its release, we have a very good performance by Samuel L. Jackson here.
    John B Super Reviewer
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