What happens when a high-powered life built on ambition crumbles overnight, and you’re forced to return to the one place you swore you’d outgrown? That’s the starting point of Sabbatical, the emotionally layered, darkly funny, and fiercely relatable feature debut from South African filmmaker Karabo Lediga.
At the heart of the story is Lesego Tau, a successful investment banker whose career implodes under mysterious circumstances. With her world turned upside down, she retreats to her childhood home in Thorntree, Pretoria, a far cry from the towering ambition and glossy surfaces of her Johannesburg life.
Waiting for her is Doris, her mother, who is equal parts loving, overbearing, and unknowingly hilarious. Played with heartfelt precision by Clementine Mosimane, Doris represents the kind of parent many of us recognise, emotionally complex, unapologetically African, and deeply invested in their child’s success, sometimes to a fault.
Mona Monyane gives a compelling raw performance as Lesego, crafting a character that feels lived-in, vulnerable but guarded, brilliant yet broken. It’s the kind of role that stays with you long after the credits roll, not because she’s flawless, but because she’s finally learning not to be.
What unfolds is not a typical mother-daughter drama. It’s a vibrant exploration of generational tension, cultural identity, and the quiet battles we fight with ourselves. Lesego’s return sparks an emotional unravelling, not just for her, but for the ideals of “success” and “perfection” she’s been groomed to uphold.
Director Karabo Lediga stitches these themes together with a distinct visual language and an immersive soundtrack laced with South African house, jazz, and soul. The music doesn’t just sit in the background, it breathes with the characters, adding texture to moments of tension, grief, and joy.
And yes, there’s humor, the kind that sneaks up on you in the middle of an existential crisis. The film’s tonal tightrope between drama and comedy is masterfully walked, drawing you into awkward family dinners, unexpected township reunions, and the brutal honesty of coming home to face your past.
Sabbatical is a necessary story in the South African cinematic canon. It doesn’t rely on trauma as spectacle. Instead, it invites us into a space of introspection, to question who we are when we’re no longer performing, producing, or proving ourselves.
Now showing at Ster-Kinekor and Nu Metro Nationwide.