Hyènes

When Der Besuch der alten Dame premiered in 1956, Friedrich Dürrenmatt couldn’t have guessed that the story of a wealthy woman corrupting a whole village was destined to become a key text for the second half of the 20 th century. A first film version was made in 1963 by Bernard Wicki as a star-studded international co-production that changed the merciless original finale into a Happy End. Mambéty couldn’t be quite as cold and cynical as Dürrenmatt. Linguère Ramatou still sees to it that all citizens of Colobane take part in the murder of Dramaan Drameh, but it’s done in a more colorful fashion than anybody here would dare, not to mention those cheeky surrealist touches added by the master in his inimitable fashion. Olaf Möller (Viennale catalogue)