[2] Her acting was well-received;[2] a New York Times review noted her "pensive performance" as Victoria, a young mother who gets back in contact with the family that once took her in.

[4] However, after My Friend Victoria, Malanda went many years without acting professionally; as a Black Frenchwoman, she refused to accept roles she considered stereotypical (criminals, immigrants, terrorists, etc.

[3] Director Alice Diop, a friend of Malanda's, encouraged her to return to film by offering to cast her in Saint Omer (2022).

[2] Based on the real-life Fabienne Kabou case, the film stars Malanda as Laurence Coly, a Senegalese immigrant on trial for killing her one-year-old daughter.

[5][6] Shooting the film was intense, with Malanda delivering very long monologues and spending a lot of time in character; she described experiencing nightmares for a year.