Tunisian film offers glimpse into gender prejudices

This is a screen capture of the film “Les Silences du Palais (Silences of the Palace)”

By Kim Se-jeong

The screening of the Tunisian film “Les Silences du Palais (Silences of the Palace)” last week didn’t quite meet the theme of the “Francophonie,” yet was successful in offering a glimpse into the issue of gender in Tunisia a century earlier.

A technical problem in the screening venue at Sungkyunkwan University disrupted the complete screening of the film, and it was only available in Arabic and English, not French.

A French word “Francophonie” refers to French-speaking nations and organizations around the world and their collective effort to share localized culture and tradition.

The film is set in the early 20th century, the years leading up to Tunisia’s independence from France in 1956.

The main character Alya is an illegitimate child of the prince of the royal Bey family. Her life-long question is to figure out who her father is, but her attempt ends in vain.

Her life is in doubt, and she, even as an adult, is deeply affected by the family history.

The plot itself has nothing extraordinary, as an illegitimate relationship isn’t just a thing of the past. Plus, in Islamic society in the early 20th century as depicted in the film, the status of women was nothing more than a slave, therefore the film is a mere depiction of the society.

Yet, the director makes the film worth giving a thought.

One is that it was made by a female Arab director.

Born in Tunisia in 1947, Moufida Tlatli was educated in film in France. This was her first work winning several awards, including Cannes Film Festival’s Golden Camera, the Golden Tanit of Carthage, British Film Institute Awards’ Sutherland Trophy, Toronto Film Festival’s International Critics’ Award and Istanbul International Film Festival’s Golden Tulip.

“The issues (in those colonized places) have been looked through the eyes of ‘western’ directors. But, this film was made by ‘the oppressed,’ and that’s what makes the film so significant,” said Park Heui-tae, archive film research professor at Korea University.

Ambassador of Tunisia Mohamed Ali Nafti, who had watched the film when it first came out in 1994, recalled it was absolutely a courageous act by the director.

“We still have many children with unknown fathers living. It was simply a taboo. Nobody talked about it, but this movie shed lights on the issue,” he said vividly remembering mixed public reactions to the film. “It really triggered debate.”