There’s so much distance between the western world and the Cameroon of this quietly elegant observational story of a single mother’s struggles that it’s actually difficult to know whether Rosine Mbakam’s neorealist drama is keenly incisive or just a purveyor of a kind of misery porn that often disguises itself as serious art. Certainly, when a seemingly over-the-top series of disastrous setbacks befall the eponymous protagonist, played by the director’s cousin Pierrette Aboheu, the movie feels like it’s giving some subset of western audiences the abject hardship and poverty that they want out of African film more than it’s telling an authentic tale of Cameroonian life. But Aboheu is mesmerizing as a screen presence, both in how she carries her character’s burdens and in her natural, radiant beauty, and she is so genuine in her execution of the role that it’s rewarding just to watch her. The most revealing moments are perhaps when Aboheu is seen at work on the brightly colored, bespoke dresses that she sews for her clientele of similarly poor means; her quiet intent and unshowy expertise, set against the movie’s backdrop of adversity, tell you everything you need to know about the character and her world.