Félicité (2017)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Félicité (Véro Tshanda Beya Mputu) is a proud, free-willed woman working as a singer in a bar in Kinshasa. Her life is thrown into turmoil when her 14-year-old son falls victim to an accident. To save him, she sets out on a breakneck race through the streets of electric Kinshasa - a world of music and dreams where she’ll cross paths with Tabu…
- Actors:
- Véro Tshanda Beya Mputu, Gaetan Claudia, Papi Mpaka, Nadine Ndebo, Elbas Manuana, Diplome Amekindra, Célestin Mokono, François Kasonga, Prince Mbasi, Ferdinand Minga, Aziza Kengumbe, José Lusala, Plaisir Mumbula, Nathan Mulumba, Claudine Lumbu, Médecin Chef Veyi, Sephora Françoise, Mua Mbuyi, Léon Makola, Firo Mafuka
- Directors:
- Alain Gomis
- Writers:
- Alain Gomis, Olivier Loustau
- Aka:
- Felisite
- Genres:
- Drama, Special Interest
- Awards:
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Reviews (1) of Félicité
Singing the Kinshasa Blues - Félicité review by griggs
Life hits hard in Kinshasa, but Félicité hits back—at least at first. The film’s opening half if electric: a no-nonsense bar singer pounding the pavement for cash to save her sone, her fury and fear held just beneath the surface. Véro Tshanda Beya is magnetic—tough, watchful, and quietly devastating. Even when saying little, she holds the screen like someone who’s spent years refusing to be ignored.
Once her son returns home and the crisis cools, the film downshifts. It trades urgency for introspection. The pace slows, but the emotional payoff builds. Alain Gomis’ direction is patient, and Céline Bozon’s cinematography finds beauty in both the bustle and stillness—neon lit bars, humming streets, and shafts of morning light slicing through concrete.
Not all of it fits snugly together, but the images linger and the emotion simmers. Sometimes resilience is found not in action, but in refusal to collapse.