The Silences of the Palace
The Silences of the Palace | |
---|---|
Directed by | Moufida Tlatli |
Written by | Moufida Tlatli |
Produced by | Canal Horizon Cinétéléfilms Mat Films |
Starring | Amel Hedhili Hend Sabri Najia Ouerghi Sami Bouajila Kamel Fazaa Fatima Ben Saïdane Kamal Twatti |
Edited by | Moufida Tlatli |
Music by | Anouar Brahem |
Distributed by | Amorces Diffusion Capitol Entertainment |
Release dates |
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Running time | 128 minutes |
Country | Tunisia |
Languages | Arabic French |
The Silences of the Palace (Tunisian Arabic: صمت القصور, Samt el qusur) is a 1994 Tunisian film written and directed by Moufida Tlatli. Investigating issues around gender and class in the Arab world, the film provides a compelling perspective of two generations of women in Tunisia during the 1950s and 1950s. Seen primarily though the eyes of a young, attractive wedding singer and lute player, Alia, it gives a glimpse into the lives of women who were servants and sexual exploits in a prince's palace.[1] Tlatli wrote the film in response to her own mother's sudden severe illness and her subsequent realization of how little she knew about her life. [2]
Plot
Set in 1950s Tunisia, the film is about a 25-year-old woman, Alia, who returns to her place of birth—a prince's palace in which her mother, Khedija, worked as a house servant and mistress.[3] Alia had fled the palace ten years earlier, at which time she spent burying totured memories of her childhood.[4] In her visit to pay respects for the death of the prince, Alia wanders through the largely abandoned palace where she is confronted by these memories represented as detailed flashbacks of her childhood. She begins to piece together a narrative about her mother's sexuality and sexual exploitation in a space ordered by gender and class difference, and is re-awakened to her persistant questioning about her father's identity.[4][5] As Alia negotiates her past, she also deals with her current relationship to her lover, Lotfi, who has asked her to have what seems to be yet another abortion.[4] [1] Her development throughout the course of the film contrasts her awakening to a past of sexual and social servitude which many of the female servants experienced in the palace against her own contested independence fraught with pain and uncertainty.[1]
Critical reception
The film received positive attention at the New York Film Festival in 1994; New York Times critic Caryn James describes the film as a "universal coming-of-age story with a feminist twist."[6] After wider release in 1996, the L.A. Times drew attention to Tlati's depiction of feminist issues in Tunisia and praised her "flowing, sensual style," calling the film "brutal" and "tender."[7] Paul Sedra's 2011 article describes the continued relevance of Silences of the Palace in Arabic studies.[8]
Awards
- Toronto International Film Festival's "International Critics' Award" for 1994.
- Cannes Film Festival Golden Camera award for 1994.
- Sutherland Trophy award from the British Film Institute Awards for 1995.
- Golden Tanit of Carthage Film Festival for 1994.
- Golden Tulip award from Istanbul International Film Festival for 1995.
References
- ^ a b c Hood, Nathan (16 February 2010). "Forgotten Classics of Yesteryear". Forgotten Classics of Yesteryear. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
- ^ Armes, Roy (1 January 2005). Postcolonial images: studies in North African film. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253344441.
- ^ "The Silences Of The Palace". IMDB.
- ^ a b c James, Caryn (30 September 1994). "Movie Review - The Silences of the Palace (1994)". Retrieved 5 March 2016.
- ^ Sedra, Paul (2 November 2011). "Films For The Classroom: Silences of the Palace". Jadaliyya. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
- ^ "Movie Review - The Silences of the Palace - FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW; A Daughter Revisits Her Mother's Oppression - NYTimes.com". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
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at position 15 (help) - ^ THOMAS, KEVIN (22 March 1996). "Movie Review : 'Silences' Speaks of Women's Struggles". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
- ^ "Films for the Classroom: Silences of the Palace". www.jadaliyya.com. Retrieved 5 March 2016.