‘Eve’s Bayou’: See No Eve-il
Childhood is the most innocent and carefree time of a human being’s life, especially for Eve Batiste and her sister Cisely. However, Cisely being their father Louis’s favorite puts a bit of strain on her relationships with them and between them. Having inherited the gift of second sight (clairvoyance), wisdom, and mouth beyond her years, saucy Eve navigates this particularly chaotic summer with her Aunt Mozelle (who possesses the gift as well and works as a psychic counselor) as her main source of comfort, support, and understanding.
Eve’s Bayou is a must-see classic because it kicks off with the unthinkable: Eve catching Louis being intimate with mistress Matty Mereaux, a long-time friend of the Batiste family and wife of Lenny Mereaux. She tries to tell Cisely what she saw, but Cisely tells her what she “really” saw and that she is over-reacting. But Eve knows what she saw. Her memory is not only proof, but so is Louis’s strange behavior with his mainly female patients while responding to their house-calls. Then, when Cisely reveals an inappropriate kiss that occurs between her and their father, Eve has had it and takes matters into her own hands. Even though Aunt Mozelle forbade Eve from telling anyone about Louis’s infidelity, she indirectly mentions the extent of his and Matty’s relationship to Lenny and commissions the local witch Elzora to place a curse on her father. However, thinking better of it, she rushes to the bar where she knew he’d be in order to save him. But it is too late. When Lenny storms into the bar to see his wife and Louis together, he becomes further enraged. He drags Matty away, threatening Louis to never speak to Matty again. With liquid foolishness he tests him and, making good on his threats, Lenny kills Louis.
I also love the parallel between Louis and his sister Mozelle. While he is a doctor who heals physical wounds, she uses her visions to heal troubled minds and spirits. Louis is married yet unfaithful, while Mozelle is cursed (a Black Widow) and any man who marries her dies. Louis also has the ability to procreate while Mozelle, being cursed, is barren. Finally, and ironically, Louis is killed by his mistress’s husband and Mozelle finds a lover in Julian Grayraven after she has a vision of his wife cheating on him. The use of black and white screen for these visions and flashbacks play a major role in really bringing the watchers into the characters’ memories and/or dramatize major events surrounding the characters, emphasizing importance; like Eve’s vision of her Uncle Harry’s impending death at the beginning of the film. The black widow spider symbolizes Mozelle as a cursed woman and the spinning coin landing on tails symbolizes the probability of an unkind fate: death.
I give this movie overall a 5/5 because of the beautiful and powerful black cast and its equally powerful storyline/plot. I love how it incorporates history, spirituality, black love and family, faithfulness, and the power of memory. Everything about this film is so raw, uncut, and realistically scripted that its beauty as a classic and period piece is undeniable.
