A 1959 French village explodes when love dares to cross the color line — and somehow water fixes racism?
In a small Gallic village, tourists are regaled by street entertainers and brash prostitutes. One of the tourists, a black girl named Bessie, falls in love with local villager Bob, and he with her. Soon racial tensions erupt volcanically among tourists and townsfolk alike. All is forgiven when the respective parents of the hero and heroine save the village's water supply.
Acting
Toto Bissainthe carries impossible material with grace.
Production
Bizarre tonal whiplash between exploitation and earnestness.
Director
Claude Bernard-Aubert
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Checkerboard arrived as France grappled with decolonization and its first waves of Caribbean immigration, making its awkward racial politics a fascinating time capsule of liberal guilt meeting exploitation cinema.
Director Claude Bernard-Aubert later pivoted to hardcore pornography under pseudonyms, which oddly contextualizes this film's uneasy blend of social message and prurient interest.
FR
