The journey of an identity: disorienting transnational ‎identifications in Souad El Bouhati’s Française (2008)‎

ABSTRACT

This article attempts to bring to light the process of identification among diasporic Moroccan-French subjects through analysing Souad El Bouhati's debut feature film Française (French Girl, 2008). With a postcolonially-inflected concern, I shall delve into how the film defines identity as an entity that has to do with becoming, not with being. Born and raised in France, Sofia, the protagonist, knows nothing about Morocco other than being her parents' home country. As she has the feeling of being more French than Moroccan, she keeps identifying with France; that is why she struggles to stay and, later on, return there. Focusing on the heroine's journey, French Girl highlights how her identification shifts over time from being French to becoming Moroccan. Rejecting to be involuntarily moved to her parents' homeland at the narrative's very beginning, Sofia ends up preferring of her own free will settling in Morocco to returning to metropolitan France. Yet, she has not altogether got rid of her Frenchness. Neither purely French nor purely Moroccan, Sofia, therefore, exemplifies the hybrid state mostly characterising today's Franco-Moroccan citizens.

KEYWORDS:

• Franco-Moroccan subjects
• identity
• becoming
• being
• return
• beur cinema

Note on translation

All translations from Moroccan Arabic (Darija), Standard Arabic, and French in this article are mine; otherwise, it is indicated.

Acknowledgments

I am deeply indebted to Prof. Lahoucine Aammari for his meticulous proofreading and enlightening remarks. The article’s merits derive also from the anonymous peer reviewers’ rigorous reading, critical feedback, and ‎inspiring comments.‎

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Widely acclaimed internationally, Salam won various awards, mainly in French film festivals, including National Competition Grand Prize, Special Award from the International Jury, Acting Award for Benaïssa Ahaouri, mentions from both youth juries, Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, 2000; Arte Prize, Brest Short Film Festival, 2000; Lutin for Best Fiction Film, Paris, 2000; Lutin for Best Direction, Paris, 2000; Kodak Prize, Cannes International Film Festival, 2000 (Martin 2011, 228). Another award is César’s best short film, 2001.

2. In a similar argument, Levine views that ‘One of the central concerns in films by and about Beurs has been to explore the tensions and paradoxes inherent in Beur identity’ (2008: 45).

3. In this regard, Bennett, Grossberg, and Meaghan note that hybridity, which is a consequence of globalisation and diaspora, problematises ‘the assumed normativity of Western culture and identities’ (2005: 150).

4. Sarup views that home is, in a way or another, tied to identity (1994: 91).

5. Asuman Suner argues against Naficy’s theorisations on accented cinema claiming that this genre should not be limited to diasporic and exilic films since similar characteristics can be found in some non-diasporic and non-exilic films. She contends that accented cinema ‘can be a more effective concept if its function is re-conceived not so much as drawing the limits of exilic/diasporic filmmaking, but constructing relations across national and exilic/diasporic cinemas. For this, we need to come up with an unbounded understanding of the concept, what might be called “accented cinema at large”, which puts emphasis not so much on narrow situatedness, but critical positioning in the face of the questions of belonging and identity’ (2006: 379).

6. Levine argues that beur cinema, by its very existence, ‘goes beyond the objective of giving voice to the immigrant experience; it incarnates the immigrant experience itself’ (2008: 57).

7. Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi (1909–1934) is a renowned Tunisian poet, mainly for this oft-cited excerpt: ‘If the people will to live; providence is destined to favourably respond.’ These lines were among the triggering slogans at the harbingers of the Tunisian revolution in 2011; in addition, they have been overused across various Arab states in demonstrations of all sorts. After the revolution, they are included in the new official national anthem of Tunisia, in its last stanza. The translation of al-Shabbi’s poetic line is taken from Elbousty’s article (2013: 162).

8. M’barek Housni observes that French Girl deals with the issue of immigration, but from a reversed point of view (2015: 90).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Said Chemlal

Said Chemlal is a professor of English and Film Studies at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Dhar El Mahraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco. He is the co-editor of a special issue of The Moroccan Cultural Studies Journal on Moroccan cinema (November 2017). Chemlal widely publishes on Moroccan cinema (in Arabic) in Moroccan and Arab magazines, and edited books. His articles in English have been published in The Journal of North African Studies and Journal of African Cinemas. His interests include film studies, cultural studies, literature, gender and urban space.