A September 20, 1810 ad in London's Morning Post for this "most correct and perfect Specimen" claimed: "She has been seen by the principal Literati in this Metropolis, who were all greatly astonished, as well as highly gratified, with the sight of so wonderful a specimen of the human race." Three abolitionists from the African Institution who attended this two-shilling sideshow swore an October 17th affidavit testifying to the "unhappy and dejected countenance of the said female" and charged that she "is deprived of her liberty" by her "Exhibitor." On October 28 The Examiner ran a letter signed "Humanitas" questioning Caezar's claim that "the Hottentot... is as free as the English": "Yes, she has a right to exhibit herself, but there is no right in her being exhibited." The Hottentot Venus, along with an Irish Giant and a Polish Dwarf, are "all masters and directors of their own movements," but "Humanitas" doubted Baartman got her cut at the box office.
Born in Tunisia and based in France, writer-director Abedallatif Kechiche ("The Secret of the Grain") drew on historical records to make "Black Venus" a period piece redolent with up-to-date issues about exploitive entertainment. He relates Baartman's appearance in a London court proceeding where she asserts her status as a free artist. (Writer Suzan-Lori Parks portrayed her that way too in "Venus," her play directed by Richard Foreman in 1996, the same year Spike Lee directed "Girl 6," Parks' screenplay about an African-American who performs phone sex.)
The real Baartman, who stood only four-and-a-half feet tall, apparently did sing, dance and and play a one-string instrument with a bow in taverns and shebeens of Cape Town. In England, at least as seen in this film, her artistry is received as freakish.
Supposedly his former servant, and never a slave, Baartman has a contract with Caezar, who sells her, in a sense, to a showman named Réaux (Olivier Gourmet), who tours with a live bear act. Réaux starts exhibiting Baartman in Paris. (Apparently, she shared billing with a captive rhinocerous at 188 rue Saint-Honore.) Now she wears a red-colored body suit and her prop leash is upgraded to a gold chain. She performs in fancy circles. She is invited to make an appearance at a society wedding. A contemporary cartoon showed a gent marveling at her bare behind and exclaiming: "Oh, goddam, what roast beef!" A 14-scene satiric operetta titled "The Hottentot Venus, of Hatred of French Women" ran for 13 months.
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