Dimensions politiques et sociales du motif de l’animalité dans Abou Leila et Plumes
The films Abou Leila (Amin Sidi-Boumédiène, Algeria/France/Qatar, 2019) and Feathers (Omar El Zohairy, Egypt/France/Netherlands/Greece, 2021) have several features in common beyond the fact that they were shot in a period after the outbreak of the Arab Spring. Both are debut features that have been...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | fra |
| Published: |
CNRS Éditions
2025-06-01
|
| Series: | L’Année du Maghreb |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/anneemaghreb/14554 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | The films Abou Leila (Amin Sidi-Boumédiène, Algeria/France/Qatar, 2019) and Feathers (Omar El Zohairy, Egypt/France/Netherlands/Greece, 2021) have several features in common beyond the fact that they were shot in a period after the outbreak of the Arab Spring. Both are debut features that have been screened at international festivals, co-produced abroad and distributed in Europe. Both feature-length films are among the cinematographic productions that have had a greater impact outside their national borders than in their own countries. Over and above the context of their production and reception, this contribution aims to analyze the way in which these two films mobilize the figure of animality, in order to address the political and social aspects of their respective societies. In Omar El Zohairy’s film, a father finds himself transformed into a hen following a magic trick with an unexpected outcome, while in Amin Sidi-Boumédiène’s film, two friends set out on the trail of a terrorist who is mistaken for a cheetah, and one man’s (waking) nightmares are filled with goats and sheep ready for the slaughterhouse. More specifically, Abou Leila and Plumes have the particularity of associating the motif of animality with the notion of emancipation, from patriarchy (Feathers) or the ghosts of civil war (Abou Leila). Thus, the problematic of this contribution lies in the analysis of the use of the motif of animality that articulates emancipation and violence. Whether it’s the character of S. seeking to put an end to her demons during Algeria’s black decade, or the mother forced to move about in public spaces in order to provide for her family and find her husband, the main characters in both films evolve in climates of tension that build to a crescendo. In the end, they both fall prey to violence, which takes place in contexts where violence is of a different nature, and where their fight against animality questions their own humanity. To highlight the way in which the motif of animality is constructed, the first step is to situate the two films in the context of their production and distribution, then to show the wider ramifications in which they are embedded in the history of cinematographic and, more broadly, artistic creation. The second step is to analyze some of the sequences in the two films, in order to formally analyze how the motif of animality plays a part, in complicated situations of emancipation, in constructing a representation of different forms of violence, whether linked to the traumas of the Algerian civil war or to patriarchal domination. It appears that the motif of animality is combined with violence to a point of no return, where the main characters engage in a life-and-death struggle for survival. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1952-8108 2109-9405 |