User reviews

This film is now showing on cable here in Australia, and is a far better than average offering.

Written and directed by Kasi Lemmons, the film is a powerful family drama set in the sixties in the south of the USA. It stars Samuel L Jackson as a small town doctor with a wandering eye. The story is told from the viewpoint of his middle child, Eve, wonderfully played by Jurnee Smollett, who sees her middle-class family life threatened by her father's infidelities.

No tale set in a bayou village could exist without references to black magic and voodoo, and this film also has them as a rather central part of the plot. But these elements are handled skilfully and believably, and heighten the tension that develops.

One of the interesting tools used by Lemmons is to tell and retell a story from different characters' perspectives, asking the viewer to determine which is more truthful, and indeed, whether the truth is paramount.

Jackson gives a sparkling performance as Dr Louis Batiste, a man of warmth and generosity who is well regarded by the local community that he serves. His family is seemingly a happy and close one, until the children begin to question some of the adult behaviour they witness.

Jurnee Smollett's Eve is the main protagonist around whom much of the story is centred, and she effortlessly moves back and forth between being a precocious brat and a young woman with powerful emotions. The rest of the cast is also very good, including a voluptuous Lisa Nicole Carson as the temptress Mattie Mereaux, and Diahann Carroll as a bayou witch.

This film moves along at a good pace and is a little more than you might expect.

The first time I saw this film I rated it 8; the 2nd time it got a 9. There is much visual beauty in the film: a lovely, serene setting and many gorgeous women. The film focussed on the devastation caused by a father who could not resist beautiful women even though he loved his family. As the film ended, I was left counting the number of people who would have considerable guilt to deal with but the end was, nevertheless, very satisfying.

You know how you get when you're deeply into a novel and you can't stop turning the pages... then take a bathroom break before you start watching this movie. Only of course you have to just deal with the pace of the movie which is great in this case and leaves not one dull moment.

I think this was one of the best movies of 1997 and should have received more recognition. I look forward to what Kasi Lemmons does next.

This is director Kasi Lemmons' first film and she has entered the world of cinema with a very bold start. Eve's Bayou is a very passionate story about life and love with a family surrounded by dark secrets. Lemmons' has boldly introduced us to a world in which magic is obvious and characters are deeply developed. There isn't one actor in this film that you do not fully appreciate. Everyone in this film gives everything that they have to help create this hidden masterpiece. Roger Ebert named this film the best of 1997, and I agree whole-heartedly. What makes this film different from other films of this nature is that Lemmons keeps us grounded. We are constantly reminded of where we are and whom we are dealing with. There is not some outside element trying to sneak in and disrupt the peace; it is a completely internal movie that allows us to devote ourselves to this desperate family. She controls Jackson with the greatest of ease, and gives us one of the most powerful child performances ever. If I had the chance to give the Oscar to Jurnee Smollett for her role of Eve in this film, I would have gladly handed it to her. Her performance commanded the film. She was the strongest and most beautifully developed character in this film. Smollett was outstanding. I have never been so impressed with a child actor as I was with her in this film. Her eyes gave us all the drama that we needed. I never thought that I would witness acting in its purest form come from a child. For anything, this film is worth seeing just for the performance of Smollett. She literally steals the scenes from everyone, even Mr. Jackson.

I mentioned earlier that I loved the fact that this film kept us grounded by continually showing us scenes from the bayou. It kept our minds focused on where we were and the environment that surrounded these troubled people. Amazingly, Lemmons has transformed this setting into more than just a place, she has given it life. Not only through our characters, but it also is the center of most of the magic that occurs. It is a very symbolic reference. A bayou is a creek or a secondary waterway that is a passageway to another larger body of water. In this film, Eve represents the bayou as she travels to her family, the larger body of water. Also, whenever Mozelle calls upon the 'spirits' her first sight is of the bayou. Lemmons may be saying that the bayou is more than just water, it is the center of everyone's universe in this town. Perhaps it has more meanings, but I really felt that Lemmons was using the bayou as more than just a place setting, it spoke to me more about the characters.

Finally, I would like to add that coupled with the amazing acting, Lemmons gives some of the most memorable direction behind the camera. The scenes when Mozelle speaks about how she lost her second husband (the one that loved her the most) because her lover wanted her to himself was riveting. Told through the mirror, this was one of the most interesting ways to tell a flashback. Instead of using the classic 'black and white' or faded lines trick, Lemmons actually brought the scene to us. We witness it firsthand and this allows us to be impacted deeper. I felt the connection, and it worked.

Overall, this was a gem. I wasn't expecting to see such a caliber of acting and direction as I did in this film. The cinematography was outstanding. Lemmons has an eye and a passion for this film, and it is apparent with every scene that she captures. The Batiste family engulfs all of your emotion. Lemmons takes innocent children and captures you within their world, giving you only brief moments to breathe. She shows us the power behind Jackson's voice and the ability he has to expand his career. This was a surprise for me, but a well enjoyed surprise. I suggest you check this film out when time permits. It is a rare find that you will probably see in the bargain bin at any local store. Pick it up and enjoy it. I do not think you will be disappointed.

Grade: **** out of *****

The story is set in 1962 Louisiana. The Batiste family is headed by charming doctor Louis (Sam Jackson). Though he is married to beautiful Roz, he has a weakness for attractive female patients. One night Louis trysts with married and sexy Metty Mereaux, not knowing that he is observed by his youngest daughter Eve, who is there by accident.

The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews, with Chicago Sun-Times' Roger Ebert naming it the best film of 1997. Despite the praise, it seems to have been largely forgotten, and did not merit a single Oscar nomination that year. Going in to the picture today (2016), I had never heard of it, nor did I have a clue what it was about.

The best part of this movie is that you can never be sure how much is real. Because most of it is told through the eyes of a 10-year old, some things may be misunderstood or distorted. A second viewing might be helpful.

"MEMORY IS A SELECTION OF IMAGES, SOME ELUSIVE, OTHERS PRINTED INDELIBLY ON THE BRAIN. THE SUMMER I KILLED MY FATHER, I WAS 10 YEARS OLD"

With those shocking opening frames from the movie, 'Eve's Bayou'(1997), I was hooked from start go.

'Eve's Bayou' is an anomaly. It has achieved a rare distinction of excellence in all departments of film making; from the direction to the writing, from the acting to the cinematography.

Here was a film not content with telling a tale of nostalgic retrospection. Instead, it shocked the senses of the unsuspecting viewers with an eerie collage of imagery, underscoring the chilling suspense with an undercurrent of tumultuous emotion (jealousy, loss and sadness; anger, vengeance and guilt) all culminating into the inevitable foreshadowed tragedy.

But of course, this is far too distinguished a film to present an easy resolution. From there spring forth the painful revelation on the very essence of memory and the perception of truth, distilled and faceted with the passage of time. A valuable lesson indeed.

Poetic and shadowy, the dream-like moods sustained throughout this poignant film is its over-riding strength. For here was a film which sights and sound has transcended the mere plot convention of its humble genre origins. Thankfully, the film turned out the better for it. Coupled with the celebrated fact that this was the product of a first time director(Kasi Lemmons), one can't help but feel the divine intervention bestowed upon this film to make it such an magically entrancing experience.

Alongside 'Shawshank Redemption' and 'The Sweet Hereafter', 'Eve's Bayou' certainly ranks as one of the most hauntingly beautiful piece of cinema ever committed to film.

Samuel L Jackson is a respected local doctor in smalltown Louisiana happily married and with three children who adore him. All is happiness and joy until his young daughter accidentally sees her father having sex with another woman. Convinced by her old sister that she had misinterpreted what she saw, the impact nonetheless has repercussions on the daughters, the mother and the wider family which will end in tragedy.

Highly regarded film picked by Roger Ebert as one of the greats of the year, it went on to receive acclaim in various areas and to become quite successful, but not a single Oscar nomination!

It is a very convincing and well acted drama by all with a standout turn by young Jurnee Smollett who is the main focus of the story which twists and turns nicely. The big success here is how well the viewer gets to know and ultimately understand and sympathise with the family feelings and actions. Jackson is good as the father / doctor who is never there, because he's 'treating' female patients, as is Debbi Morgan who adds a different flavour to the film as the sister who can see into the future. All in all quite a class act.

This was a delightfully good movie. Set in the Louisiana bayou country in the 60's, it is a wonderful story of a well-to-do black family caught up in family tensions that drive the plot but never overpower the family's love for each other. Infidelity, an over-protective mother, the psychic aunt's tragic loss of loves and a delicious dose of voodoo all make this a good watch. The child actress, Jurnee Smollett as Eve, delivers a beautiful performance with talent far beyond her years. Debbie Morgan is terrific as the fortune-telling wise, but cursed-in -love Aunt Mozelle.

Lynn Whitfield and Samuel L. Jackson are also superb as the parents whose complex and troubled relationship's problems spill over onto the children, especially the two daughters, Eve and Cisely. Cisely sees herself as a buffer comforting her father and trying to protect him from her mother whom Cisely sees as a rival for her father's affections. Eve bounces around amidst the angst of being a middle child and the desire to understand the adults' world. This definitely a movie to see. It's a shame that jewels like this get overlooked in the usual Hollywood hype machine.

recently had the good fortune to (re-)catch eve's bayou on TV. i don't know how anyone can help but fall in love with eve.she is sooo vivacious and adorable.an angelic child with invisible devil horns.

why it never received the same recognition as steel magnolias , i will never know, but it is a "takes ya back" kind of flick,as tho if you breathed deep, you could smell the bayou or the dinner that was on the table.

i came to the site , however to find the screenwriter's name. it has Mia Angelou all over it. i think it is time for me to buy the DVD.

prayers for all of those souls in the bayou that just felt the sting of Katrina. ,ghostie

I had never heard of this film when my wife ordered it from NetFlix, and I keep wondering why. This is a terrific flick. Jurnee Smollett as Eve is truly excellent, and not just "good for a kid," or "good but annoyingly precocious," she is just plain good. The story is wonderful, and I love the fact that the race of the characters is hardly mentioned. It's a story about people, and it doesn't matter on what continent their ancestors originated. The cast is uniformly excellent, especially Samuel Jackson (one of the film industry's most versatile actors), and Debbi Morgan. Small parts portrayed by Branford Marsalis and Vondie Curtis Hall are very nicely done, and add color to the background of friends and relatives of the Batiste family. I enjoy the way the film shows us the world of psychic perception and Voodoo, and the degree to which belief in them can affect behavior. The location filming is wonderfully evocative of the steaming south, and the direction spot-on. I recommend this film.

I came across eve's bayou at the video store and decided to give it a shot. I am so glad I did. It is one of my favorite films. The story is outstanding and the acting has got to be some of best acting I have ever seen. Its a shame that there aren't enough quality roles for black actors because there are some fantastic black actors and actresses out there. I like to think I can recognize talent when I see it and the performances in this film were nothing short of top notch. I immediately went out a bought this movie after I had rented it because it was just that good. The voodoo/cajun/french/bayou vibe was cool and I think thats what attracted me to it to begin with when I rented it. Just wanted to share that with you folks and let you know that I would highly recommend this film.

This film should have relied more on its supernatural elements instead of using cheap melodrama. My main issue with this movie is the plot. The movie wants the young girl to be protagonist so bad yet the material doesn't do her justice. On top of this, the movie doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it a melodrama? Is it a coming of age story? Is it a fantasy film? I don't mind the blending of multiple genres, but I don't care for uneven films. There a multiple time lapses that don't make sense and the story just feels rushed.

For all the obvious talent and technique that went into "Eve's Bayou," I'm sorry to say the total experience left me cold and unmoved. From the start there seemed to be a lack of focus. Just what was being said and why? The film seemed to move from one crises or unpleasant situation to another, without a central theme or motivating factor. All the characters seemed to be in need of therapy, and a reason for giving them attention was unclear. A major problem was in the scripting, which for me lacked cohesiveness. The actors were uniformly strong, as were the production values, including Kasi Lemmons' direction; what was lacking was Lemmons' central theme. It was a long journey down these sad and dismal swamplands, and without a hint of a plot, one seemed to drift from episode to episode aimlessly. It's really a shame so much genuine talent was to a degree wasted on such an uncohesive tale. There have been many casualties resulting from the death of the plot device in contemporary drama. "Eve's Bayou" is a prime example.

A bayou is the Southern U S term for an ox-bow lake, a stretch of stagnant water left behind by a river running through level countryside after it has made a short cut through one of its banks. The characters in this film have been left behind by history in the Bayou country of Louisiana. They are nice, middle-class creole folk going nowhere. Louis Baptiste (Samuel L Jackson) is the local doctor living in a fine frame house with his fragile ex-beauty queen wife and three children including the film's narrator, 10 year old Eve (Jurnee Smollett). Family legend has it that an earlier Baptiste, a French general in the Napoleonic era, had his life saved by a local black slave girl, the ancestral Eve. She married him and had 16 children, thus kick-starting local development. By the early 1960s, in which this movie is set, the Bayou is your archetypal Southern backwater. Louis didn't get that bit at medical school about not screwing your patients and in fact it seems to be an integral part of his practice. His sister Mozelle (Debbie Morgan) is also a therapist of a sort - having the gift (or curse) of second sight she finds lost relatives by exercising her psychic powers. Unfortunately she's hopeless as to her own affairs- her three husbands, all much loved, have all died prematurely.

At the start of the film Eve, in voice over mode, announces " The year I killed my father, I was 10." Then we switch to a party at the Baptise house where Eve discovers her Dad having it off with a patient in the carriage house. He laughs it off, but the seed of doubt is planted, and when there is an incident involving Louis and Eve's older sister Cisely (Meagan Good) the stage is set for tragedy. In fact the movie is not so much about murder as about guilt, the especially keen variety which afflicts someone who injures another he or she adores and is dependent on.

On the way, as the film moves through lush swampy scenery at an appropriately languid pace, we meet the rest of the Baptiste family and Diahann Carroll, enjoying herself as a downmarket sorceress. There's no sign of the racially conscious South - as far as race is concerned we might as well be in the highlands of Scotland. The whole film has a dreamlike quality (Brigadoon?). As Eve explains, her story is about the way memory is formed often as much by imagination as by what actually happened. I seem to remember they told us that in Psych 101 but it is rather more poetically put on this occasion.

The photography is gorgeous and the acting more than proficient. Jurnee Smollett in her first role stands out, but Debbie Morgan as Mozelle the psychic aunt produces a three dimensional character from a part which could easily have been done as caraciature. Samuel L Jackson fills the bill as the charming philanderer Louis.

The film is apparently the first from writer-director Kasi Lemmons, though Samuel L is credited as one of the producers and very likely had a say in the production. Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to introduce all the main characters in such a rush at the party in the opening sequence but it's all sorted out in the end. The brief black and white "psychic" sequences fit seamlessly into the rest of the film and somehow one doesn't stop to ask just how Mozelle does it.

At the end of the day, you wonder how a child of 10 could go through what Eve has gone through and not become a gibbering wreck. At the end, she sits on the edge of the Bayou with sister Cisely, contemplating a gorgeous sunset, apparently at peace with the world. Is the atmosphere so thick, so cloying, in the Bayou, that even murder and mayhem are quickly forgotten? It's a beautiful sensuous (and sensual) atmosphere though, and worth sampling.

Story of a turbulent summer for a rural Louisiana family seen through the eyes and memories of ten year old Eve (Jurnee Smollett). Eve's father (Samuel L Jackson) is a doctor who cannot keep his hands of his female patients, and her mother (Lynn Whitfield) has become fiercely protective of her three children as a result of a vision by her sister-in-law (Debbi Morgan) a gifted but cursed psychic who occasionally dabbles in voodoo.

More so than in most films the story as it is presented is not intended to be accepted as the literal retelling of events, it is meant to be seen as a story made up of memories colored by it's narrator, where visions, spirituality and voodoo all play a part.

The performances by Samuel L Jackson and Jurnee Smolett are very good, it is beautifully filmed with a good soundtrack. Impressive Directorial debut by Kasi Lemmons who also wrote the script.

Never has a film of such SUPERIOR quality been overlooked by so many!! Had this been a white movie it would have walked off with SEVERAL Oscars! One last note, to the mainstream press Debbie Morgan has been acting magnificently since the SEVENTIES, so how in hell do you refer to her role as " best breakthrough!??" that is just inexcusable!

This is a very interesting and intriguing movie... well worth watching.

10 yr old Jurnee Smollett is quite the young and upcoming actress in this film, especially with her fascination with voodoo and her ability to maneuver adults. As usual, Debbi Morgan reveals great talent (without even trying), and seems to be to be the heart of this dramatic show.

Samuel Jackson exhibits more than one side, and he quite successfully can play the bad (or wrong) guy. Of course there is much more to this great movie, and anyone reading this should watch it.

This film is a cinematic tapestry filled with suspense and complexity. The film addresses the cultural and racial aspects of Lousianna. It engages in an authentic and powerfully framed order. The acting of young Smollet and the rest of the cast ensemble ensures the viewer is never certain of what the plot will reveal until the end of the movie.

This has to be one of the most well shot and directed movies I've ever seen besides the GodFather I &II. The acting in the movie was excellent. Jurnee Smollett is an excellent actress as well as Debbi Morgan - both should have been nominated for an award. The cast well picked. Samuel L Jackson character created a love/hate relationship with me. The women were absolutely beautiful.

What is amazing is that this movie did not receive any type of nominations or honorable mentions, much less advertisement when it originally came out. I am amazed how the script of Good Will Hunting was nominated for an Oscar and more amazed that it won. Kasi Lemmons thank you for such a beautiful film.

Only one Black person (John Singleton for Boys N the Hood) and three women (Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties, Jane Campion for The Piano and Sophia Coppola for Lost in Translation) have been nominated for the Best Director Oscar to date. Both those numbers should have swelled in 1997 with Kasi Lemmons' atmospheric direction of the chilling drama Eve's Bayou. This nail-biting tale of family tension in the Louisiana bayou in the early 1960s was among the finest films of the 1997, but was completely bypassed in the Oscar race amidst the hysteria over Titanic. Regrettably, Lemmons (who won an award for Outstanding Directorial Debut from the National Board of Review for Eve's Bayou) has had only two small budget directorial opportunities since. This is an amazing piece of cinema with fine performances from the ensemble cast. Samuel L. Jackson, Jurnee Smollet and Debbi Morgan all turn in A+ performances.

In the deep swampy backwoods of Louisiana exists a place called Eve's Bayou. The main character of our movie is named Eve (Jurnee Smollett), after the female slave whom Eve's Bayou was named after (the main character was named after the slave, as was the place). The movie begins with a woman narrator telling of the time when she killed her father, then we're taken to Eve's childhood.

This sordid drama takes us into the topsy turvy home of the Batiste family: Louis (Samuel L. Jackson), Roz (Lynn Whitfield), Cisely (Meagan Good), Eve (Jurnee Smollett), and Poe (Jake Smollett). Louis is a philandering doctor and he isn't the least bit discreet about it. His indiscretions upsets the entire house, kids and all--and it seems that all the women and girls in his life vie for his attention.

"Eve's Bayou" has a distinct taste to it, much like Creole food. While it's dealing with an issue that is not uncommon, it's dealing with it in a place that has a strong belief in voodoo and fortune telling. The ups and downs of this brief period in Eve's life are bracketed by superstitious beliefs and filled with a lot of crying. Too much crying in fact.

I wasn't going to be distracted by the many tears shed by the eleven-year-old Eve. She said she killed her father and I wanted to know how. It was a great tool to draw the audience in and the story was interesting enough to hold my attention until that foretold point. Was the juice worth the squeeze? It was satisfactory.

"Eve's Bayou" is so assured and daring, you're almost petrified the picture's going to mess up, make some kind of boneheaded move. You're sitting there, rooting for this thing not to fall off its conceptual high wire. But hallelujah, it keeps its balance; and you're exhilarated from beginning to end.

What's great about this film is the way it deconstructs time. But the structure is not arbitrary. Each new day yields more information in a skillfull order: We learn what happened, in tantalizing increments. And with each revelation, the big picture changes radically. "Eve's Bayou" doesn't just draw you into a dramatic mystery, it makes you aware of human mystery. And that's food for thought and entertainment.

FYI: Debbi Morgan gives one of the best supporting performances of the 90s, bar none. This woman is a revelation! Excellent acting from the rest of the cast also.

A tale of the Batiste famly. Played by some of the Smollet family. And Samuel Jackson. And Diahann Carroll. Period piece, 1962. Three generations of Batistes, all trying to protect each other. Daddy seems to be extra friendly with so many of his female patients. And when he's caught by his daughter during one of these sessions, the daughter can't forget what she has seen. Although she's not quite sure exactly what she saw. And when a fortune teller predicts something bad happening, mom keeps the kids locked inside the house. So much sadness. The family is coming apart, and the daughter isn't sure what to do. Written and directed by Kasi Lemmons. Married to Vondie Curtis Hall. Who is also in this film. Showing on the Epix channel. This one won TONs of category and festival awards. It moves pretty slowly, but it gets there in the end.

This came highly recommended by a NYT reviewer, but yikes, before I was 1/2 way through it became real torture. Cast is mainly female--old & young--and they just scream and carry on in jealous nonsense with fortune telling and "voodoo?" thrown in. Samuel Jackson-- who the heck convinced him to play in this mess-- is reduced to a clichéd prop. 1960 Louisiana Bayou?? with blacks constantly in haute bourgeois costume with Connecticut accents is beyond laughable. The latter is cool--if that's what the director wants--but the story is pure soap opera slush! Bayou photography is great, and set against these ridiculous characters it comes as a great relief. The movie just slogs along with a cast of over-dressed harpies, both old and young.