Touki Bouki (1973)

A restless young couple dream of escaping Senegal for Paris in Djibril Diop Mambéty ’s stylish, poetic, irreverent expression of post-colonial fantasies.

Djibril Diop Mambéty’s picaresque fantasy-drama focuses on two young lovers, Mory and Anta, desperate to escape post-colonial Dakar for the glamour of Paris. Setting off on Mory’s motorcycle, mounted with the horned skull of a zebu, they face obstacles both practical and mystical. Influenced by the French New Wave, Mambéty’s effervescent storytelling is characterised by vivid imagery, sardonic humour, discontinuous editing, and audacious soundscapes.

“Touki Bouki combines comedy, tragedy, road-movie tropes and criminal glamour into an elegy for youth and disaffection.” Arike Oke

“Anarchic, surreal, shocking, frenetic… Touki Bouki’s visual and aural juxtapositions are simultaneously meditative and troubling.” Robin Baker

“Few movies from the 1970s still feel as contemporary as the (fairy)tale of Mory and Anta: a reimagination of the griot tradition through the prism of Jean-Luc Godard and Arthur Penn.” Andreas Busche

“Every shot is a painting which attempts to recreate not the world but the experience of watching it with intense devotion.” Alonso Díaz de la Vega

1973 Senegal
Directed by
Djibril Diop Mambéty
Written by
Djibril Diop Mambéty
Featuring
Magaye Niang, Mareme Niang, Christophe N'doulabia
Running time
95 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for Touki Bouki

Critics

Claire Allouche
France
Cameron Bailey
Canada
Robin Baker
UK
Ela Bittencourt
USA/Brazil
Andreas Busche
Germany
Didi Cheeka
Nigeria
Olivia Cooper-Hadjian
France
Claire Diao
France/Burkina Faso
Alonso Díaz de la Vega
Mexico
Rosalind Galt
UK
Julien Gester
France
Ryan Gilbey
UK
June Givanni
UK
Rahul Hamid
US
Jonas Holmberg
Sweden
David Jenkins
UK
Dominik Kamalzadeh
Austria
Sarah K Keller
USA
Violet Lucca
USA
Vincent Malausa
France
Steven Markovitz
South Africa
Petra Meterc
Slovenia
Claire Monk
UK
Cornelius Moore
USA
Ben Nicholson
UK
Cristina Nord
Germany
Veton Nurkollari
Kosovo
Arike Oke
UK
Alastair Phillips
UK
Cristina Piccino
Italy
Hannah Proctor
UK
Selina Robertson
UK
Federico Rossin
Italy/France
Aboubakar Sanogo
Burkina Faso / Canada
Sophia Satchell-Baeza
UK
Marc Siegel
Germany
Mikaela Smith
UK
Fanta Sylla
France
David Thompson
UK

Directors

Sy Alassane
Fradique Bastos
Angola
Kantarama Gahigiri
Rwanda
Isaac Julien
Gerd Kroske
Germany
Joe Lawlor & Christine Molloy
Ireland
C.J. "Fiery" Obasi
Nigeria
Luke Seomore
UK
Rama Thiaw
Senegal
Sami Tlili
Tunisia

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