Atlantics (2019)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Along the Atlantic coast, a soon-to-be-inaugurated futuristic tower looms over a suburb of Dakar. Ada (Mame Bineta Sane), 17, is in love with Souleiman (Traore), a young construction worker. But she has been promised to another man. One night, Souleiman and his co-workers leave the country by sea, in hope of a better future. A few days after the departure of the boys, a fire devastates Ada's wedding party, while a mysterious fever starts to spread. Could Souleiman be back for Ada?
- Actors:
- Mame Bineta Sane, Amadou Mbow, Traore, Nicole Sougou, Aminata Kane, Coumba Dieng, Ibrahima Mbaye, Diankou Sembene, Abdou Balde, Babacar Sylla, Arame Fall Faye, Ya Arame Mousse Sene, Babacar Samba, Astou N'Diaye, Khouda Fall, Seyni Diop, Ndeye Fama Dia, Mame Victor Samb, Omar Dieng, Asta Kane
- Directors:
- Mati Diop
- Producers:
- Judith Lou Lévy, Eve Robin
- Writers:
- Mati Diop, Olivier Demangel
- Aka:
- Atlantique / Atlantics: A Ghost Love Story / Fire Next Time
- Genres:
- Drama, Romance
- Collections:
- Top 10 Award Winners at the London Film Festival, Top 10 Cannes Palme d'Or Winners, Top Films
- Awards:
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Reviews (1) of Atlantics
Neon Lights, Haunted Shores - Atlantics review by griggs
Longing, loss, and injustice all crash against the shore in Atlantics. At first it feels like social realism: underpaid construction workers in Dakar set out across the ocean to chase Europe, leaving their families and lovers behind. But Mati Diop doesn’t stay in the realm of the literal. When the men vanish at sea, their spirits drift back, inhabiting the bodies of young women to demand the wages they were denied.
At the centre is Ada, caught between an arranged marriage and her love for Souleiman, one of the lost. Through her eyes the film shifts from migrant tragedy to supernatural love story, blending genres so quietly you hardly notice when the ghosts have arrived.
The look and sound of it are mesmerising: neon nights, candlelit rooms, the Atlantic glowing like a character in its own right, pulsing with Fatima Al Qadiri’s eerie score. Not everything connects cleanly, but the atmosphere is so hypnotic that logic barely matters. It’s a film about hauntings—personal, political, and oceanic.