First-Generation Women in Short Films

This chapter examines key short films featuring Maghrebi migrant women in France through an analysis of objects such as letters, a play script, food, photographs, and clothing items. It highlights the extent to which such objects are crucial to giving expression to the experiences of Maghrebi women through this particular medium, where meaning must necessarily be communicated in a short period of time. These objects have multi-layered meanings and serve as potential channels for communication and understanding between first-generation women and people who are different from them, most notably because they have not shared the women’s experience of migration and exile and in many cases do not speak the women’s mother tongue. This analysis highlights the ways in which the women negotiate, navigate, and cross various cultural, linguistic, psychological, and spatial boundaries or barriers that exist in their lives. The cultural productions discussed in this chapter include films directed by Fejria Deliba, Ismaël Ferroukhi, Faïza Guène, and Catherine Bernstein.

The Voices of Maghrebi Migrant Women in French Téléfilms

This chapter considers the theme of agency in French téléfilms featuring first-generation women that were broadcast between 1993 and 2012. These include Yamina Benguigui’s Aïcha series and films by Philippe Faucon, Rachid Bouchareb, and Malik Chibane. The chapter first outlines the specificity of French téléfilms and gives and overview of the representations of first-generation women on French television more broadly. Then, it considers the extent to which Maghrebi women appear to achieve agency in French téléfilms and identifies factors that constitute barriers to agency. When taken together, these films present a vision of agency that is to a very large extent equated with behaving in a ‘Westernized’ fashion, conforming to norms of individualism dominant in France, whereas an absence of agency is associated with the perpetuation of traditions associated with the country of origin that are portrayed as patriarchal and oppressive to women. The families of the first-generation women in these films play a prominent role in the respective narratives and impact the treatment of the question of agency, and the readings of these films are supported by Berghahn’s work on ‘diasporic families’ in contemporary European cinema.

The Voices of Maghrebi Women in Documentary Films

The chapter examines a wide variety of documentaries featuring Muslim women from the Maghreb in France. It critically analyzes the different mediations and techniques, such as the use of extra-diegetic music, voiceover, and archive material, that are employed in the documentaries and serve to ‘frame’ the women’s voices in various ways and with different consequences. It identifies three distinct levels of intervention: the first involves a heavy-handed approach, where the voices of the women are significantly ‘framed’ or even drowned out (most notably in the post-production process). The second reflects a more minimalist approach with regard to framing, while the third appears to be minimalist or transparent but in fact involves a significant degree of intervention. In examining the different forms of mediation and degrees of intervention at work in these documentaries, as well as the consequences of this with regard to the voices of the Maghrebi migrant women in them, this analysis draws on Bill Nichols’ critical writings on the different modes of documentary, notably expository, observational, and interactive. The films examined in this chapter include documentaries directed by Yamina Benguigui, Malek Bensmaïl, and Yasmina Kherfi.

Conclusion

This book challenges the notion that first-generation Maghrebi migrant women, as a group, constitute a uniformly silent generation and are victims because of their status as immigrants, Muslim women, or women in a traditionally patriarchal culture. The cinematic representations of first-generation women are diverse, and while some of the films examined in the study do not necessarily invite viewers to identify with the first-generation women portrayed in them, the majority of them do promote an appreciation of the experiences and hardships lived by this generation of women. The book concludes with a discussion of feature films depicting Maghrebi women protagonists that are in production at the time of writing (directed by Hafsia Herzi and Fejria Deliba, respectively). These films suggest that first-generation women from the Maghreb in France continue to serve as inspiration for filmmakers in France.

Transmitting the Voices of Maghrebi Women through Feature Films

This chapter analyzes how the experiences of Maghrebi migrant women in France are conveyed through feature films and considers the extent to which these films encourage spectators to come to a better understanding of the women’s experiences and appreciate their respective points of view. It analyzes a wide range of techniques used in the films, from those that could be considered the most ‘verbal’ in the traditional sense of the word (such as interior monologue voiceover and verbal exchanges) to those that are entirely non-verbal (including body language and non-verbal sounds). While the spoken words of first-generation women have the potential to provide significant insight into the women’s experiences, this is not always the case, nor do a woman’s words necessarily invite spectators to identify with her point of view. Words also have the potential to be misunderstood or not understood at all – for example, when there is a language barrier – and this can inhibit communication. Non-verbal tools can provide an effective channel through which the women’s voices can be communicated, regardless of differences in age, language, or culture between the characters and the implied spectators. Works examined include films by Yamina Benguigui, Mehdi Charef, and Bourlem Guerdjou.

Maghrebi Migrant Women in France and French Cinema

The introduction provides a general overview of the place of Maghrebi migrant women in France and outlines the book’s purpose, scope, and methodology. The study adopts the concept of ‘voice’ as a framework through which to critically examine the representations of Maghrebi women in a diverse corpus of documentaries, short films, téléfilms, and feature films, and the introduction draws on scholarship in post-colonial, film, and gender studies. It sets out the book’s key questions, including: In what ways do cinematic depictions of first-generation women challenge dominant perceptions about this generation, and notably the idea that the women are silent and disempowered? Do films depicting Maghrebi women invite audiences to come to a better understanding of the women’s subjective perspectives, and if so, by what means? What opportunities and constraints do the formal conventions characteristic of the four types of films present in representing first-generation women? To what extent is the question of Islam raised, and can it be said that this shapes the representations of Maghrebi women in a particular way? The introduction concludes with a description the fieldwork undertaken to construct the study’s cinematic archive.