Eve Batiste, a 10-year-old girl, lives in a prosperous Creole-American community in Louisiana with her 9-year-old brother Poe and her 14-year-old sister Cisely in 1962. Their father Louis, a well-respected doctor in Louisiana's African American community, claims descent from the French aristocrat Jean Paul Batiste, who founded the town of Eve's Bayou and named it after the slave woman whose medicinal abilities cured him of a severe case of cholera. One night after a raucous party, Eve accidentally witnesses her father having sex with Matty Mereaux, a family friend. However, Cisely, who has a very affectionate relationship with her father, convinces Eve that she misinterpreted an innocent moment.
The summer quickly becomes chaotic and stressful for the Batiste family. Eve's relationship with her parents becomes more strained as she discovers more evidence of her father's serial infidelity. Cisely comes into conflict with both Eve and their mother Roz as she enters puberty and tries to navigate the difficult transition to adulthood, particularly with regard to her appearance and sexuality. Roz eventually begins to suspect her husband's infidelity, prompting conflict between the two as well. Eve often seeks refuge with her aunt Mozelle, a hoodoo practitioner with a neighborhood reputation as "The Black Widow". Eve, who also has the spiritual gift of sight, has a premonitory dream shortly before an accident occurs that claims Mozelle's third husband.
Mozelle's gift also brings her into direct conflict with Elzora, a fortuneteller and possible witch with similar abilities. When Roz visits her for a reading, Elzora implies that an unexpected "solution" to her problem will arise, but to wait and look to her children in the meantime. When Mozelle grudgingly makes a similar request, Elzora forces her to confront the truth she has been denying. Meanwhile, Eve, frustrated by her father's infidelity, begins to act out, bringing her into conflict with her other family members. Cisely begins acting strangely as well, isolating herself from her family after experiencing her first period.
Cisely later confides in Eve the secret behind her strange mood: one night, after their parents had a vicious argument, Cisely went to comfort her father and he, while intoxicated, attempted to molest her. Enraged, Eve seeks out Elzora to commission a voodoo spell that will put a fatal curse on her father. En route to Elzora's residence, Eve encounters Lenny Mereaux and questions him about his teaching job that keeps him away from home. In the conversation, she alludes to a possible tryst between his wife Matty and her father.
When Eve finally arrives at Elzora's home, she finds her to be not as malevolent as she expected but rather normal instead. Expecting to receive a voodoo doll of her father, she is instead simply told that the curse has been placed per her request. With regret, and in an attempt to save her father, Eve rushes to bring him home after finding him in a bar speaking with Matty Mereaux.Simultaneously, a drunken Lenny arrives to take Matty home. After a confrontation, Lenny and Matty depart, and Lenny tells Louis that he will kill him if he talks to Matty again. After Louis bids farewell to Matty, Lenny shoots and kills Louis.
After returning home from her father's funeral, Eve discovers a letter among her father's belongings that he composed and addressed to Mozelle. Reading it aloud, she learns that her father disputed the accusations, claiming that Cisely had approached him the night of the incident and kissed him, first as a daughter and then as a lover. While intoxicated, he violently slapped her and pushed her to the ground, infuriating her. Confronting Cisely, Eve uses her second sight to discover what really happened; her findings corroborate her father's testimony. Now united in understanding, the sisters burn the letter and discard it into the bayou before standing together and holding hands, gazing at the sunset.
Kasi Lemmons first wrote the screenplay in 1993.[10] Lemmons said the screenplay "originated as a series of short stories, and the children were the first layers in the short stories."[11] Lemmons was inspired by childhood trips she took to Louisiana, saying she "wanted to write a story about people who were like royalty in a small town. Louisiana has a unique history in the U.S. It was one of the only places where slaves could buy their freedom. Even in the 1700s, there were free people of color who had citizenship because the state was owned by the French."[3]
Though the story is not autobiographical, Lemmons said "there are definitely pieces of my family in it",[10] and that the writing process was therapeutic, as it allowed her to process "things that happened to me—things that I was still wrestling with...At the core of Eve, it’s me and my childhood and wrestling with how powerful I was as a child. How did I fight my way through uncomfortable situations and the distress that I felt?”[11]
When Lemmons and producer Caldecot Chubb could not find interest from studios to finance the film or potential directors to helm the production, Lemmons decided to direct it herself.[10] After reading the script, Samuel L. Jackson came on board as both a producer and lead actor.[5][12] Jackson said, "Louis Batiste was definitely someone I hadn't seen before. A family man with interesting conflicts and a romantic and glamorous life. I don't get to play those kinds of guys."[10] In 1996, the independent company Trimark Pictures agreed to finance the film.[10]
Casting
Lemmons had known many of the film's principal actors from her days acting in New York theatre.[10] Meagan Good was originally cast as 10-year-old Eve Batiste, but by the time the film's financing came together, Good had grown out of the role and was instead cast as Eve's older sister Cisely.[3]
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 84% based on 134 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Eve's Bayou marks a striking feature debut for director Kasi Lemmons, layering terrific performances and Southern mysticism into a measured meditation on disillusionment and forgiveness."[25]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[26]
In a 2017 retrospective essay for Vulture, Angelica Jade Bastién wrote, "The film operates deftly on multiple levels: It’s a stunning coming-of-age tale (an exceedingly rare example of one that privileges the experience of young black girls); an honest, hyperspecific portrait of black life in rural Louisiana; and one of the greatest writer-director debuts in American cinematic history."[27]
In February 2008, Eve's Bayou made Time's list of the "25 Most Important Films on Race".[33]
On February 22, 2009, Debbi Morgan's portrayal of Mozelle Batiste Delacroix was included in PopMatters' 100 Essential Female Film Performances list.[34]
In 2012, Jurnee Smollett's role as Eve Batiste was included in Essence's 25 Best Roles for Black Actresses list.[35]
British progressive rock band The Pineapple Thief took their name from a line in this film.[36]
↑Ebert, Roger (November 7, 1997). "Eve's Bayou". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on September 25, 2012. Retrieved October 18, 2011– via RogerEbert.com.
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