Happy Dox

The wife of the French ambassador in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso is bored. Once in a while, she will play a game of tennis, or maybe swim a few lengths in her private pool. She used to dream of being a famous opera singer, but now she practices her repertoire knowing she will never perform for a large audience. A career is not even an option, because the wives of ambassadors are not allowed to work. In powerful and styled scenes, director Theresa Traore Dahlberg, who spent part of her childhood in Burkina Faso, exposes the pitfalls of a privileged life. This discreet, short portrait of an ambassador’s wife also offers an equally witty and critical perspective on neocolonial relations, power structures, class differences and gender disparities.