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Abstract
This article examines French-language films produced after, and sometimes inspired by, the fall of the Berlin Wall and of communism in Eastern Europe. Commentators such as Alain Badiou have argued that that post-Wall ‘borderless’ Europe has failed to live up to its promise and cinema has taken a leading role in mapping what ‘Fortress Europe’ looks like from those literally or figuratively on the outside. I propose in this essay a different angle of vision, one that takes into account cinematic representations of what I label ‘touring’, an activity related to the often-maligned practice of tourism. Tourism, however, is changing and is often seen under a new light, particularly in Europe, where it is believed to have a crucial role in the construction of European citizenship. Low-cost air travel made possible by deregulation of the airline industry has made borderless travel within Europe increasingly affordable and common. The touring on display in eight cinematic case studies addressed here combines tourism with a variety of other practices that include work, study and ‘visiting friends and relatives’. I argue that this cinematic activity within the ‘soft border’ (K. Eder, 2006. ‘Europe's Borders: The Narrative Construction of the Boundaries of Europe'. European Journal of Social Theory 9 (2): 255–271) space of Europe or ‘borderland Europe’ (É. Balibar, 2009. ‘Europe as Borderland’. Society and Space, 27: 190–215) – in other words, the spaces within the EU and Schengen Zone – promotes what Balibar has called ‘translation’ and a variety of encounters with the potential to engender transnational hybridity and new, flexible notions of identity.
Notes
1. Germans use the phrase ‘mauer im kopf’ in reference to the divides that have outlived the dismantling on the Berlin Wall and reunification. To different extents, such primarily psychological (but also political, cultural, economic) barriers remain a significant feature of the European landscape. For further discussion within a cinematic context, see Gott and Herzog (Citation2014) and Skrodzka-Bates (Citation2011) on the Polish Plumber within the context of cinema.
2. The imbalance between West to East voyages and trajectories in the opposite direction is highlighted by a comparison of Western and Eastern productions. In Transylvania, the protagonist played by Asia Argento leaves France indefinitely to ‘slum it’ in Romania. In contrast, Eastern travelers often struggle to reach the West, even if they possess the correct documentation. In the Czech production Pusinky/Dolls (Karin Babinská, 2007), three young students aim to spend the summer working in the Netherlands but never manage to cross the border to leave the Czech Republic.
3. Nulle part terre promise (Emmanuel Finkiel, 2008), Welcome (Philippe Lioret, 2009), Harragas (Merzak Allouache, 2009), Les mains en l’air/Hands in the Air (Romain Goupil, 2010), Le Havre (Aki Kaurismaki, 2011) and Illégal (Olivier Masset-Depasse, 2011) represent just a small sample of these films.
4. Both narrative and productive border-crossing is encouraged and facilitated by co-production practices. Since the European Convention of Cinematographic Co-production was initially signed in Strasbourg in 1992, international production cooperation has been a key element of European cultural policy. Industry gatherings such as the European Film Market (in conjunction with the Berlin Film Festival) and the When East Meets West co-production forum bring together prospective filmmakers with producers and financiers from across Europe. As a transnational production practice, cinema participates in the ‘touring’ that the narratives I consider here undertake.
5. Other European films that fit in the touring category include 2 Sunny Days (Ognjen Svilicic, 2010, Croatia/France), Rabat (Victor Ponten and Jim Taihuttu, 2011, Netherlands), Prag/Prague (Ole Christian Madsen, 2006, Denmark), Siberia (Robert Jan Westdijk, 1998, Netherlands), Dvojina/Dual (Nejc Gazvoda, 2013, Slovenia/Croatia/Denmark), Chujdenezat/The Foreigner (Niki Iliev, 2012 Bulgaria) and the omnibus multinational coproduction A Quintet (2014), with five episodes set in different cities such as Berlin, Aosta and Istanbul and directed by different directors.
6. It is worth pointing out, in distinctively sharp contrast to the ready mobility on display in my primary case studies, that for the migrants from Turkey and Nigeria in Frear’s film travel is only rendered possible thanks to an illicit trade in body parts. The deal is simple and evocative of the extreme physical cost of mobility for those lacking EU passports: a kidney for a passport. The reality of trade in body parts and (generally female) bodies for passage across borders is underscored in numerous migration narratives. One notable recent example is Hope (Boris Lojkine, 2014, France), which narrates the voyage of a Nigerian woman to Europe.
7. Accounts of tourists and migrants crossing paths in places with tourist-centered economies such as the Greek island of Lesvos have become increasingly prevalent in the media, but such encounters generally remain absent from touring films. The migrant protagonist of Eden à l'Ouest/Eden is West (Costa-Gavras, 2009, France/Greece/Italy) spends some time in the Greek resort full of European holidaymakers where he swims ashore after an abortive sea crossing, but the narrative focus is on his voyage rather than on the practice of tourism or touring.
8. A large number of films in this category stage voyages to former colonies, particularly in the Maghreb. The list includes Bled Number One (Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche, 2006), La Fille de Keltoum/Keltoum’s Daughter (Medhi Charef, 2001), Exils/Exiles (Tony Gatlif, 2004) and Ten’ja/Testament (Hassan Legzouli, 2004).
9. An exception is La Cage dorée/ The Gilded Cage (Ruben Alves, 2013, France), a comedy about a Portuguese family in France. Although the film does narrate travel at the very end of the narrative, the focus is on the family’s life in France and attempt to avoid the voyage. Oxala (Gaël Bernardo, 2007) is another documentary on the topic of origins. Sem Ela (Anna de Palma, 2003, Portugal/France) is a Portuguese-produced film on Portuguese born in France who ‘return’ to Portugal for summer holiday. Cyril Pedrosa’s graphic novel Portugal (2011) recounts a return to origins narrative quite similar to those in the aforementioned return films, in a fashion that often channels cinematic voyages.
10. Migration to France during the Salazar era is documented in the five-part documentary Au Revoir, Portugal! (Carlos Domingomes, 2009).