Inch’Allah dimanche
Yamina Benguigui (2001)
France
Inch'Allah dimanche is the first feature film by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Yamina Benguigui, whose skilful, moving documentary Mémoires d'immigrées (first shown on television in 1997) brought to the attention of a wide viewing public the history of immigration from the Maghreb and its ongoing effects on the lives of first generation migrants and their children living in France.
This woman-centred film was inspired by Benguigui's mother and the generation of women who followed their husbands to France in the mid-1970s as a result of changes in French immigration laws. It tells the story of Zouina, who is wrenched from her family in Algeria to join her husband Ahmed in the North of France with her children and mother-in-law, and who is at first virtually imprisoned in her new home by her despotic husband. Gradually however, she starts to make a life for herself, listening to the radio and meeting her neighbours. When her husband and mother-in-law absent themselves on Sundays to make preparations for Eid, Zouina escapes from the house in search of another Algerian family she has heard of, but discovers that the Algerian woman she had hoped to befriend is shocked by her desire for independence and is not open to change. Zouina, who has already embraced aspects of French culture, realises that she will have to negotiate her own way in life, accepts a lift from a concerned bus-driver and arrives back home to confront her husband, insisting that in future she will be the one to take the children to school, a demand which he accepts. The film thus illustrates the tensions within the immigrant Maghrebi family, in particular with regard to the place of women, as well as the necessity for integration if the family is to be accepted.
The use of film to counter the silence of dominant French cinema with regard to the history of a community in exile is a feature of other films of the late 1990s and early 2000s, including Vivre au paradis, Sous les pieds des femmes, Le Gone du chaâba and 17 Rue bleue.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 30 May 2006 •
I finally got round to watching this film and enjoyed it very much. There were a few things that puzzled me: at the beginning of the film we learn how Algerian men, who had served in the war on the side of the French, stayed in France and their families were only allowed to follow in 1974 (when, I assume, a law was introduced enabling families to follow and live in France).
I was wondering watching the film why this historical information preceded the film? Were all/most Algerian immigrants in France ‘Harkis’, had most of the Harkis who came to France after the Algerian War of Independence been interned prior to the 1970s (sorry about my sketchy knowledge about the historical backgroun). And why does Benguigui dwell on this historical background at the outset but then never again in the film?
Finally, I am curious to know how this film was received by the Arab community in France? You mention in your book that critics liked it, but could Arab women relate to it or did they feel it was an overstatement of their suppression from within the Arab community itself? The most positive characters are the neighbours’ daughter (who gives Zouina presents and cares for her), the eccentric widow of a French general in the Algerian war but, rather significantly, NOT other Arab women.
Comment posted by Daniela Berghahn on 10 Nov 2006 at 10:58 AM
Carrie,
I watched this film with great interest and was glad that it was largely subtitled in French (easier to understand than spoken French for me). I was wondering about the following points: the film begins with sketing the historical background of Algerian immigrants to France, suggesting that the majority were ‘harkis’ and that only in 1974 were these harkis, many of whom settled in France after the end of the Algerian War of Indepdence, allowed to bring in their families. So is the suggestion that Zouina’s husband is a harki? Why is this stressed at the outset, since it’s not a theme or issue later on in the film? Or is it, since the eccentric French widow whom Zouina befriends is the widow of a French general who died in the Algerian war (is that right?).
Carrie, you mention in your book that the film was well received by critics. But how did the Arab community in France and in Algeria respond to it? I felt that maybe the suppression of Zouina was a bit exaggerated (at least it was inconceivable to me). Moreover, there were no positive Arab characters except for Zouina. Her mother-in-law is a nightmare, the Algerian woman whom she finally tracks down is disloyal (out of fear) and the only positive characters are the bus driver, the neighbours’ supportive daughter and the French widow, i.e. all white French characters (or is the bus driver Algerian as well?)
You also mention in your book that the final sequcence is a dream sequence. So does this suggest that there is no improvement of Zouina’s life in sight at the end?
Comment posted by Daniela Berghahn on 10 Nov 2006 at 11:33 AM
1. There is no reference to the harkis at the beginning of the film. The historical background is that of the recruitment of North African workers to France in the postwar period, and the fact that many encouraged their families to join them in the mid 1970s. [The 1974 law aimed to restrict the immigration of men, and so changed the pattern of immigration.] The situation of the harkis was very different (coming to France with families at end of war in 1962 and often parked in camps for years.)
2. Some critical opinion suggests that Benguigui’s desire to show the need for/possibility of integration has led her to portray the immigrant comunity in an overly negative light. The positive views of Arab women lie in the love of mother and sisters left behind in Algeria, as per opening scene. The film shows the problems of life for a first generation immigrant woman in the 1970s, deprived of her extended family and isolated from other Maghrebi immigrants. But it also throws up some unlikely alliances - the independent neighbour (not anyone’s daughter), the widow, etc. A sign of her potential integration.
3. I think the ending is hopeful - she wins the right to take her children to school. The alliance with the bus-driver strikes me as something of a fantasy, but not her ability to negotiate with her husband.
Comment posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 12 Nov 2006 at 01:05 PM
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