In Senegal, you've been waiting for a chance, to find a job that will improve your circumstance, then you find one you enjoy, look after a girl, and two boys, for a family who originate from France. When the people then move back, to their homeland, you're summoned to join them, and lend a hand, now you're cook, cleaner and servant, a skivvy slave, toiling emigrant, no illusion of the one who's in command. You endure abuse, and the constant criticism, but your boss is so devoid of altruism, there's no escape, there's no away out, inside you scream and shriek and shout, the only option that remains, involves incision.
24 Reviews
A Thoughtful Commentary...
buckleym-118 November 2001
On the injustices one culture can do to another. The film is about an African woman who gets a job with a white family and agrees to follow them back to France, only to be disenheartened in the end. While, the production values were not great, the messages of this film are stronger than most major US motion pictures. The characters (especially the French) do seem to be a bit shallow, and don't have much depth to them. Yet, the theme of loneliness from displacement and cultural injustice ring powerfully loud in the end. An 8 out of 10.
Uninhibited condemnation of Imperialism !!!
avik-basu188924 April 2017
On the one hand, 'Black Girl' is a very personal film about a young Senegalese girl who goes to France to escape her poverty stricken life in Senegal. But on the other hand, 'Black Girl' is also an immensely political film which tackles racism head on. This is a film which is narrow in terms of focus, but extremely broad in terms of its ambitions with its social and political relevance.
Sembène uses a non-linear screenplay structure and jumps back and forth between Diouana's present life in France and her past life in French occupied Senegal. Through the flashback sequences, we get to see how she took it upon herself to turn her back on the racism and the oppression that characterised her life in Senegal and move to the new land. But unfortunately moving to France for her ends up being nothing other than a journey from one prison to another. She becomes literally and figuratively imprisoned in the house of her employers. The mistress of the house tricks her into doing far more work around the house than she signed up for. The confinement and the complete disintegration of the dreams she had of the life she'd get to live in France gradually make her lose her spirit and her faith. This film underlines the notion that the poisons of oppression and racism with their roots in regressive imperialism have much more to do with mentality than geography.
As I have mentioned Sembène does a very good job of balancing the personal with the political/social. Although the film is very Diouana-centric, the social and political relevance is always the elephant in the room lurking around in the corner and Sembène will from time to time overtly allow the politics to move from the background to the foreground, for example there is a moment when three distinguish-ably dressed Senegalese men are shown to have a conversation about civil rights and the current political scene as Diouana walks past them. It is a scene that serves no purpose in the basic narrative of the film, but it serves a thematic purpose considering the political backdrop of the film. Although the film as a whole paints a bit of grim picture of the life of Senegalese and African people in a world still not completely beyond the grips of an imperialist attitude, Sembène still manages to end the film on a beautiful note for the future generations of Senegal. The ending sequence seamlessly blends the ideas of imperial guilt of Europeans and optimism with regards to reclamation of their rightful political power by the Senegalese people in the future.
'Black Girl' directly tackles racism and does so in a very uninhibited manner and it deserves all the praise for its intentions and its message. However, even though I admire the film for the nobility of its intentions, from a technical and storytelling standpoint, I do think it is a bit flawed. First of all the way Sembène uses the voice-over narration here really reminded me of Bresson's use of the same in the way that it is used for overtly expository purposes which always ends up leaving me a bit irritated and honestly the voice-over in many of the scenes in which it is used seems redundant. The best scenes in the film are the wordless ones when Sembène dwells on an image to evoke an emotion instead of Diouana explaining everything. Another flaw in the film is the quality of the acting. The acting gets a little too amateurish at times which prevents some scenes to have the most optimum emotional impact.
'Black Girl' deserves to be seen because of its political and social importance and relevance in Senegalese history and how it influenced the growth of personal, independent cinema in Africa. I don't think it is a flawless, perfect film, but I can't help but admire the themes, the intentions and the potency of its message.
Sembène uses a non-linear screenplay structure and jumps back and forth between Diouana's present life in France and her past life in French occupied Senegal. Through the flashback sequences, we get to see how she took it upon herself to turn her back on the racism and the oppression that characterised her life in Senegal and move to the new land. But unfortunately moving to France for her ends up being nothing other than a journey from one prison to another. She becomes literally and figuratively imprisoned in the house of her employers. The mistress of the house tricks her into doing far more work around the house than she signed up for. The confinement and the complete disintegration of the dreams she had of the life she'd get to live in France gradually make her lose her spirit and her faith. This film underlines the notion that the poisons of oppression and racism with their roots in regressive imperialism have much more to do with mentality than geography.
As I have mentioned Sembène does a very good job of balancing the personal with the political/social. Although the film is very Diouana-centric, the social and political relevance is always the elephant in the room lurking around in the corner and Sembène will from time to time overtly allow the politics to move from the background to the foreground, for example there is a moment when three distinguish-ably dressed Senegalese men are shown to have a conversation about civil rights and the current political scene as Diouana walks past them. It is a scene that serves no purpose in the basic narrative of the film, but it serves a thematic purpose considering the political backdrop of the film. Although the film as a whole paints a bit of grim picture of the life of Senegalese and African people in a world still not completely beyond the grips of an imperialist attitude, Sembène still manages to end the film on a beautiful note for the future generations of Senegal. The ending sequence seamlessly blends the ideas of imperial guilt of Europeans and optimism with regards to reclamation of their rightful political power by the Senegalese people in the future.
'Black Girl' directly tackles racism and does so in a very uninhibited manner and it deserves all the praise for its intentions and its message. However, even though I admire the film for the nobility of its intentions, from a technical and storytelling standpoint, I do think it is a bit flawed. First of all the way Sembène uses the voice-over narration here really reminded me of Bresson's use of the same in the way that it is used for overtly expository purposes which always ends up leaving me a bit irritated and honestly the voice-over in many of the scenes in which it is used seems redundant. The best scenes in the film are the wordless ones when Sembène dwells on an image to evoke an emotion instead of Diouana explaining everything. Another flaw in the film is the quality of the acting. The acting gets a little too amateurish at times which prevents some scenes to have the most optimum emotional impact.
'Black Girl' deserves to be seen because of its political and social importance and relevance in Senegalese history and how it influenced the growth of personal, independent cinema in Africa. I don't think it is a flawless, perfect film, but I can't help but admire the themes, the intentions and the potency of its message.
Colonialism Unmasked
Cineanalyst20 February 2020
"La Noire de..."--better translated as "The Black Girl/Woman de...," retaining the French preposition with its ambiguous connotations, either meaning "of" or "from" or "belonging to"--is credited as the first sub-Saharan African feature film to receive international acclaim. Its author, Sembène Ousmane is likewise considered the "father of African cinema." Indeed, Senegal had only recently declared independence from French colonial rule in 1960, and, reportedly, before that Africans in French colonies were prohibited from making their own movies. One assumes this ban existed because the authorities feared such a thoroughly anti-colonialist picture being presented as in "Black Girl" and even more so that it be artfully composed. For, despite clocking in at under an hour (although originally a bit longer), Ousmane's film tenders a taut thesis, subtly adorned in art and while still managing a shamefully shocking end and strikingly symbolic epilogue.
If this were simply postcolonial social commentary, as admirable as that message may be, it would be easy to write off "Black Girl," which is what the French Film Bureau did in rejecting to produce it (although, they later purchased the rights to (or not to) distribute it). It's the crafting of the message that makes this a great film, though. I especially love the use of the mask here--a piece of African art much like the film itself that serves as a source of contention for its control, within and without the film. At first, while in Dakar, Diouana, the protagonist, offers the mask as a gift to her employers, for which they place it beside other pieces of African art decorating their villa. Back in their high-rise apartment in France, however, the mask hangs alone on the white family's wall, with the only apparent other they take back with them from Senegal to France being Diouana. When the boy who originally possessed the mask regains it, he shadows one of Diouana's employers, the man, as if haunting him with the history of colonialism while simultaneously deporting him from a newly free nation.
The precision of the black-and-white cinematography is worth remarking upon here, too. With a minimalist aesthetic reflecting its low budget and the influence of the French New Wave, it may be easy to miss how well the photography reinforces the social commentary. Jonathan Rosenbaum (see his book, "Movies as Politics"), for one, reiterates what another film critic, Lieve Spass, says regarding the black-and-white dichotomy of the picture in everything from the dots on Diouana's dress, the food they consume (white rice and milk, black coffee and "Black and White" whisky), to, most dramatically, Diouana in the white bathtub. There's also the dark mask on the apartment's white wall, the black void Diouana stares out at from that apartment, in addition to the obvious pigmentation. When the white French woman looks over a crowd of black women waiting for work as maids, the visual connotation to a slave market isn't lost. Nor is it when Diouana is mistreated by those she serves in France: the shrewish madame treating her as inferior, the mostly indifferent monsieur, kissed by a stranger who doesn't bother with a request or introduction after remarking that he's never kissed a black woman before, overhearing another guest suppose that Diouana instinctually, "like an animal," understands commands in the French language (one may be forgiven for thinking it was the two centuries of French colonial rule that explains the people of Senegal knowing French--heck, the Normans only controlled England for half a century a millennium ago, and there remain thousands of French cognates in the English language to this day, but I digress).
It rather goes without saying that this is an economical picture, although, again reportedly, originally the film included a color sequence. In addition to the photography, however, there's the sparsity of story and dialogue, which I admire, notwithstanding that some Westerners seem to be put off by it. Regardless, relying on Diouana's internal narration is effective in focusing the narrative and getting the point across--that the dream and promises that led her to France becomes alienated from her confined reality, which she compares to being treated like a prisoner and slave, as others cast her as a racial, supposedly inferior "other." Her illiteracy along with her general muteness compounds her alienation, as wrenchingly detailed in the scene involving a letter supposedly from her mother. The general English translation of the title is rather suiting in this regard, to simply label her and the film as the "Black Girl," to not even question from whence she belongs--her identity simply stated and assumed, as her employers and the colonizers would have it. The film returns her voice, if only for the spectator, and likewise the identity of postcolonial Africa.
If this were simply postcolonial social commentary, as admirable as that message may be, it would be easy to write off "Black Girl," which is what the French Film Bureau did in rejecting to produce it (although, they later purchased the rights to (or not to) distribute it). It's the crafting of the message that makes this a great film, though. I especially love the use of the mask here--a piece of African art much like the film itself that serves as a source of contention for its control, within and without the film. At first, while in Dakar, Diouana, the protagonist, offers the mask as a gift to her employers, for which they place it beside other pieces of African art decorating their villa. Back in their high-rise apartment in France, however, the mask hangs alone on the white family's wall, with the only apparent other they take back with them from Senegal to France being Diouana. When the boy who originally possessed the mask regains it, he shadows one of Diouana's employers, the man, as if haunting him with the history of colonialism while simultaneously deporting him from a newly free nation.
The precision of the black-and-white cinematography is worth remarking upon here, too. With a minimalist aesthetic reflecting its low budget and the influence of the French New Wave, it may be easy to miss how well the photography reinforces the social commentary. Jonathan Rosenbaum (see his book, "Movies as Politics"), for one, reiterates what another film critic, Lieve Spass, says regarding the black-and-white dichotomy of the picture in everything from the dots on Diouana's dress, the food they consume (white rice and milk, black coffee and "Black and White" whisky), to, most dramatically, Diouana in the white bathtub. There's also the dark mask on the apartment's white wall, the black void Diouana stares out at from that apartment, in addition to the obvious pigmentation. When the white French woman looks over a crowd of black women waiting for work as maids, the visual connotation to a slave market isn't lost. Nor is it when Diouana is mistreated by those she serves in France: the shrewish madame treating her as inferior, the mostly indifferent monsieur, kissed by a stranger who doesn't bother with a request or introduction after remarking that he's never kissed a black woman before, overhearing another guest suppose that Diouana instinctually, "like an animal," understands commands in the French language (one may be forgiven for thinking it was the two centuries of French colonial rule that explains the people of Senegal knowing French--heck, the Normans only controlled England for half a century a millennium ago, and there remain thousands of French cognates in the English language to this day, but I digress).
It rather goes without saying that this is an economical picture, although, again reportedly, originally the film included a color sequence. In addition to the photography, however, there's the sparsity of story and dialogue, which I admire, notwithstanding that some Westerners seem to be put off by it. Regardless, relying on Diouana's internal narration is effective in focusing the narrative and getting the point across--that the dream and promises that led her to France becomes alienated from her confined reality, which she compares to being treated like a prisoner and slave, as others cast her as a racial, supposedly inferior "other." Her illiteracy along with her general muteness compounds her alienation, as wrenchingly detailed in the scene involving a letter supposedly from her mother. The general English translation of the title is rather suiting in this regard, to simply label her and the film as the "Black Girl," to not even question from whence she belongs--her identity simply stated and assumed, as her employers and the colonizers would have it. The film returns her voice, if only for the spectator, and likewise the identity of postcolonial Africa.
First film made by a Black African director
Red-12526 October 2002
Warning: Spoilers
I am very glad I finally saw "Black Girl." I missed seeing it when it was first released in the U. S., and now--36 years after it was produced--the film found its way to Upstate New York (Rochester Labor Film Festival).
We cannot judge this movie in 2002 terms--by those terms it is technically crude, and too short (only 65 minutes). The print shown in Rochester was of poor quality--especially just before and after reel changes.
Despite all these hurdles, I found "Black Girl" compelling and disturbing. The basic themes are the conflict and contrasts between White and Black, European and African, rich and poor, literate and non-literate. The contrasts are not subtle, but neither are they violent or brutal. There is no physical violence, but rather emotional and psychological violence.
Sembene--who had to learn his cinema craft in Russia because opportunities were denied him by the French--is a master. A master working without star actors and without state-of-the-art technology can still produce a masterpiece!
We cannot judge this movie in 2002 terms--by those terms it is technically crude, and too short (only 65 minutes). The print shown in Rochester was of poor quality--especially just before and after reel changes.
Despite all these hurdles, I found "Black Girl" compelling and disturbing. The basic themes are the conflict and contrasts between White and Black, European and African, rich and poor, literate and non-literate. The contrasts are not subtle, but neither are they violent or brutal. There is no physical violence, but rather emotional and psychological violence.
Sembene--who had to learn his cinema craft in Russia because opportunities were denied him by the French--is a master. A master working without star actors and without state-of-the-art technology can still produce a masterpiece!
Strong Drama with a Message
Michael_Elliott7 December 2013
Black Girl (1966)
*** (out of 4)
Impessive feature from Ousmane Sembene about a black woman (Mbissine Therese Diop) from Senegal who goes to live in France as a servant but soon begins to feel the abuse of her "owner." Some people have called BLACK GIRL one of the greatest films ever made but I'm going to fall well short of that type of praise. With that said, there's no question that the film has a pretty strong message and gets its across without having to preach or wag fingers in the viewers face. Some people have complained about the look and style of the picture but I personally thought this was one of the highlights. I really liked how the thing almost came across as a documentary as we often just see the woman as she is working or being abused and then we hear her narration afterwards. I also liked how the flashbacks were used to give us more information about the woman and of course this leads us to the ending, which I'm not going to spoil for those who haven't seen the film. It's certainly a very effective one that will lead people to have their own views on what it actually means. I liked how the film isn't just about a black and white issues but there's also the issues of differences between people of different countries as well as a issue of money. Director Sembene does a very good job at telling the story and doing so in a rather original way. The performance from the lead actress is simply wonderful as is the supporting one from Anne-Marie Jelinek.
*** (out of 4)
Impessive feature from Ousmane Sembene about a black woman (Mbissine Therese Diop) from Senegal who goes to live in France as a servant but soon begins to feel the abuse of her "owner." Some people have called BLACK GIRL one of the greatest films ever made but I'm going to fall well short of that type of praise. With that said, there's no question that the film has a pretty strong message and gets its across without having to preach or wag fingers in the viewers face. Some people have complained about the look and style of the picture but I personally thought this was one of the highlights. I really liked how the thing almost came across as a documentary as we often just see the woman as she is working or being abused and then we hear her narration afterwards. I also liked how the flashbacks were used to give us more information about the woman and of course this leads us to the ending, which I'm not going to spoil for those who haven't seen the film. It's certainly a very effective one that will lead people to have their own views on what it actually means. I liked how the film isn't just about a black and white issues but there's also the issues of differences between people of different countries as well as a issue of money. Director Sembene does a very good job at telling the story and doing so in a rather original way. The performance from the lead actress is simply wonderful as is the supporting one from Anne-Marie Jelinek.
While the film is far from perfect, it is very important...
planktonrules24 February 2015
This Senegalese film is very important. It's a film made by black filmmakers and espouses a very strong black nationalist attitude. Because of this, it must have really struck a chord for African film patrons.
"Black Girl" is a film about a young woman from Senegal that has taken a job working for a white French family. She thinks she was hired to take care of the children but the woman of the house sees Diouana as a personal servant and soon this young lady finds herself working as a maid--and an under-appreciated on at that. Part of the problem is a communication barrier between the white family and Diouana as often neither quite understands the other's expectations. Part of it is the wife is rather cold and sees the Africans as being dumb and beneath her. Where does all this end up? Well, in a sad way it's a giant 'I'm not gonna take it any more' from Diouana--much like the attitude through the continent towards their colonial or former colonial masters.
While this is a very important film and it would be great to use in a class about African cinema or world history, technically speaking it has a few small shortcomings. It's not the smoothest or highest quality production--but considering its humble roots, I can easily look past that and it's still worth seeing if you are patient and can appreciate the context for when it was made (such as the Patrice Lumumba banner briefly seen in a tiny portion of the film).
"Black Girl" is a film about a young woman from Senegal that has taken a job working for a white French family. She thinks she was hired to take care of the children but the woman of the house sees Diouana as a personal servant and soon this young lady finds herself working as a maid--and an under-appreciated on at that. Part of the problem is a communication barrier between the white family and Diouana as often neither quite understands the other's expectations. Part of it is the wife is rather cold and sees the Africans as being dumb and beneath her. Where does all this end up? Well, in a sad way it's a giant 'I'm not gonna take it any more' from Diouana--much like the attitude through the continent towards their colonial or former colonial masters.
While this is a very important film and it would be great to use in a class about African cinema or world history, technically speaking it has a few small shortcomings. It's not the smoothest or highest quality production--but considering its humble roots, I can easily look past that and it's still worth seeing if you are patient and can appreciate the context for when it was made (such as the Patrice Lumumba banner briefly seen in a tiny portion of the film).
Black Girl and the birth of sub-Saharan Cinema
ReadingMovies8 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Black Girl (La Noire de...) is a french-Senegal film from 1966 by director/writer Ousmane Sembène. Based on a short story he wrote. The movie is about a young women named Diouana, played by Mbissine Thérèse Diop, who immigrates from Dakar to Antibes in France to work for Madame.
The plot follows a nonlinear structure (in medias res) and starts with Diouana arriving in France, where she is picked-up by the husband of Madame called Monsieur in the story. Important to note is that we never really get to know the real names of Madame and Monsieur, they seem to portray something more than just their own character. They are the embodiment of the Bourgeoisie. Ousmane Sembène who was a Marxist, studied film in the Soviet-Union and was a member of the communist party, also used these ideologies in his writings and movies. Where the stories are more centered around groups instead of individual drama, or where an individual is representing a group. Like Diouana represents the people of Senegal or Africa.
Diouana, who already has worked for Madame back in Senegal where she took care of her kids, goes to France with the expectations to live a new and luxurious life. Which we all learn from flashbacks. But when she arrives at the apartment nothing goes as expected. She gets treated harsh and only has to work. She is not even allowed to go outside. When she tries to wear a fancy dress and high heels, Madame gets upset and gives her an apron to wear, telling her "don't forget that you are a maid". Diouana becomes increasingly aware the oppression, social alienation and exploitation. At one of the dinner parties she gets kissed on the cheek by a man, explaining "I've never kissed a black girl before!" and when they are dining, prepared by Diouana, they are pointing out that the rice is very good because "Africans all eat rice".
Instead of becoming more aggressive and angrier, Diouana becomes more passive and refuses to work. Madame tells her if she doesn't work, she doesn't eat. In one desperate attempt Monsieur and Madame fake a letter, supposed to be written by the mother of Diouana. But Diouana tears the letter in disbelieve and still refuses to work or to be oppressed. Then, in the climax of the movie, Diouana takes her own life. A story that made it to the paper in Antibes. This final climax sadly really happened and was the inspiration for Ousmane Sembène to write his book, where the movie was based on. He tried to looks beyond the news article and see how the lady must have felt, he gave the story meaning.
Throughout the movie there is one important motif, in form of a traditional African mask. This mask is bought by Diouana from a little boy in Senegal and later given as a present to Madame, for giving her the opportunity to work for her. Soon this mask is derived from all meaning and merely a souvenir hanging on the white wall in Antibes. As time passes and Diouana becomes more aware of her situation, this mask becomes a representation of her longings for home and old traditions. She tears the mask of the wall in the final act, and says that the mask doesn't belong to them. She commits suicide. Monsieur decides to take her belonging and the mask back to Senegal, to give it to her mother. Monsieur tries to give the mother also the money belonging to Diouana, but knowing it's dirty, she doesn't accept it. The mask is picked up by a little boy and he chases Monsieur out of the village, while holding the mask in front of his face. Symbolizing the past of Africa haunting its colonizers. Traditional mask often symbolized the dead ancestors. This mask also symbolized Diouana's homecoming. Although not physically, her spirit did make it back to Senegal.
The movie won the Prix Jean Vigo for best feature film in 1966, bringing international attention to film in Senegal and Africa in general. There were films made in Senegal before 1966 mostly in form of newsreels even some feature films, but it was not allowed for someone native from Senegal to make a movie, before their independence in 1960. They were not even allowed to speak in their mother tongue, they had to speak the colonizers language french. Whilst ousmane sembène spend most of his time in France, he did felt more connected to Senegal. He tried to reach the people in Senegal through his writings, but most of them were illiterate except for the elites. So he tried it through film. Black Girl was the first fill to really show the Senegal slums and poverty. It was the first film with a black lead and she wasn't depicted as a racial stereotype. The second feature film after Black Girl, called Mandabi (1968), was the first film in Wolof language. He continued making movies till 2003, all with social commentary. The father of African film died on the 9th of June 2007.
"La Noire de..." meaning "Black Girl from...", sadly translated to Black Girl which makes it lose its meaning, is an extremely powerful and thought provoking movie. Continuing in the ideas of Italian neorealism, with the use of non-professional actors and shooting on location, he showed that cinema can flourish in any part of the world. And showed the complex dynamic between Senegal and its colonizer.
The plot follows a nonlinear structure (in medias res) and starts with Diouana arriving in France, where she is picked-up by the husband of Madame called Monsieur in the story. Important to note is that we never really get to know the real names of Madame and Monsieur, they seem to portray something more than just their own character. They are the embodiment of the Bourgeoisie. Ousmane Sembène who was a Marxist, studied film in the Soviet-Union and was a member of the communist party, also used these ideologies in his writings and movies. Where the stories are more centered around groups instead of individual drama, or where an individual is representing a group. Like Diouana represents the people of Senegal or Africa.
Diouana, who already has worked for Madame back in Senegal where she took care of her kids, goes to France with the expectations to live a new and luxurious life. Which we all learn from flashbacks. But when she arrives at the apartment nothing goes as expected. She gets treated harsh and only has to work. She is not even allowed to go outside. When she tries to wear a fancy dress and high heels, Madame gets upset and gives her an apron to wear, telling her "don't forget that you are a maid". Diouana becomes increasingly aware the oppression, social alienation and exploitation. At one of the dinner parties she gets kissed on the cheek by a man, explaining "I've never kissed a black girl before!" and when they are dining, prepared by Diouana, they are pointing out that the rice is very good because "Africans all eat rice".
Instead of becoming more aggressive and angrier, Diouana becomes more passive and refuses to work. Madame tells her if she doesn't work, she doesn't eat. In one desperate attempt Monsieur and Madame fake a letter, supposed to be written by the mother of Diouana. But Diouana tears the letter in disbelieve and still refuses to work or to be oppressed. Then, in the climax of the movie, Diouana takes her own life. A story that made it to the paper in Antibes. This final climax sadly really happened and was the inspiration for Ousmane Sembène to write his book, where the movie was based on. He tried to looks beyond the news article and see how the lady must have felt, he gave the story meaning.
Throughout the movie there is one important motif, in form of a traditional African mask. This mask is bought by Diouana from a little boy in Senegal and later given as a present to Madame, for giving her the opportunity to work for her. Soon this mask is derived from all meaning and merely a souvenir hanging on the white wall in Antibes. As time passes and Diouana becomes more aware of her situation, this mask becomes a representation of her longings for home and old traditions. She tears the mask of the wall in the final act, and says that the mask doesn't belong to them. She commits suicide. Monsieur decides to take her belonging and the mask back to Senegal, to give it to her mother. Monsieur tries to give the mother also the money belonging to Diouana, but knowing it's dirty, she doesn't accept it. The mask is picked up by a little boy and he chases Monsieur out of the village, while holding the mask in front of his face. Symbolizing the past of Africa haunting its colonizers. Traditional mask often symbolized the dead ancestors. This mask also symbolized Diouana's homecoming. Although not physically, her spirit did make it back to Senegal.
The movie won the Prix Jean Vigo for best feature film in 1966, bringing international attention to film in Senegal and Africa in general. There were films made in Senegal before 1966 mostly in form of newsreels even some feature films, but it was not allowed for someone native from Senegal to make a movie, before their independence in 1960. They were not even allowed to speak in their mother tongue, they had to speak the colonizers language french. Whilst ousmane sembène spend most of his time in France, he did felt more connected to Senegal. He tried to reach the people in Senegal through his writings, but most of them were illiterate except for the elites. So he tried it through film. Black Girl was the first fill to really show the Senegal slums and poverty. It was the first film with a black lead and she wasn't depicted as a racial stereotype. The second feature film after Black Girl, called Mandabi (1968), was the first film in Wolof language. He continued making movies till 2003, all with social commentary. The father of African film died on the 9th of June 2007.
"La Noire de..." meaning "Black Girl from...", sadly translated to Black Girl which makes it lose its meaning, is an extremely powerful and thought provoking movie. Continuing in the ideas of Italian neorealism, with the use of non-professional actors and shooting on location, he showed that cinema can flourish in any part of the world. And showed the complex dynamic between Senegal and its colonizer.
A Simple Film, A Cultural Statement
atlasmb23 October 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Black Girl is a simple film. A synopsis of the entire story would take only a few sentences. And the main character is rather lifeless throughout most of he film. Still, I found myself thinking about the film and its implications afterwards--a measure of success that prompts me to rate this film "7".
Except for some flashbacks to life in Senegal, the film is told in a linear fashion. Most of the action is confined to the interior of the apartment where Diouanna works. This reflects her lifestyle and creates a tension that corresponds to her emotional state.
Most of what we know about Diouanna's feelings come from voiceovers. Her character does not talk much. I am not sure why. Is it a cultural thing? I don't think so. For the most part, she seems an introvert. Does that make her as much a prisoner of her own personality as of her circumstances?
Spoiler: It is nearly impossible to discuss this film without discussing its ending. Her suicide is her most important statement. Especially since she could have gone back to Senegal. The suicide seems to be a matter of honor. This issue could prompt some interesting discussions.
In the end, we are left with some questions. And some obvious comments about the insensitivity of the French she encounters in France, who make it easy for themselves to demean her by minimalizing her humanity because she is different from them.
Except for some flashbacks to life in Senegal, the film is told in a linear fashion. Most of the action is confined to the interior of the apartment where Diouanna works. This reflects her lifestyle and creates a tension that corresponds to her emotional state.
Most of what we know about Diouanna's feelings come from voiceovers. Her character does not talk much. I am not sure why. Is it a cultural thing? I don't think so. For the most part, she seems an introvert. Does that make her as much a prisoner of her own personality as of her circumstances?
Spoiler: It is nearly impossible to discuss this film without discussing its ending. Her suicide is her most important statement. Especially since she could have gone back to Senegal. The suicide seems to be a matter of honor. This issue could prompt some interesting discussions.
In the end, we are left with some questions. And some obvious comments about the insensitivity of the French she encounters in France, who make it easy for themselves to demean her by minimalizing her humanity because she is different from them.
Recognition of humanity
gbill-7487730 July 2019
Not exactly a cheery story and a pretty simple one as well, but the important thing is the perspective, which is that of a Senegalese maid (Mbissine Thérèse Diop) working for a white couple in France, as told by a Senegalese director (Ousmane Sembène). By using simple narration to reveal the maid's thoughts, he ensures that viewers will see her as a person, not as a dumb servant or as an object of pity, as differing extremes might. It seems so incredibly basic and obvious, but it's this recognition of humanity that's powerful, and unfortunately still such a relevant message today. Despite the obvious ways a story like this might go, Sembène is restrained in what he shows us, and a part of the film's strength is that there are moments when we can easily imagine worse with such a gap in power and wealth.
Over her new boyfriend's concerns, the young lady comes to France after having worked for the couple in Dakar. He's a little too grabby with his hands in one scene, but as he stands in front of a Patrice Lumumba 'Uhuru' poster in another, is correct in warning her that she may be treated like a slave in France. When she gets there she soon finds herself bored with being confined to mundane tasks in a small home, disappointed for having been deceived about what she would be doing there, lonely because of her isolation, and weary of being so openly spoken down to and angrily ordered around. In other words her reaction is what any intelligent person's reaction would be, but her employers don't see it that way. They think she's just lazy, and attribute her quietness with ignorance, casually likening her to an animal. When they entertain their friends, another way they take away her humanity is by speaking about her as if she's not there, and by critically sizing her up as some kind of exotic thing.
I loved the scenes in Senegal, and wished there had been more. I also liked the aspects of quiet dignity in poverty, and the brilliant ending scene. It is so pitch perfect that the initial response of white guilt is to turn to money, instead of empathizing or trying to understand. It might have been better fleshed out, but it's a very good movie as it is.
Over her new boyfriend's concerns, the young lady comes to France after having worked for the couple in Dakar. He's a little too grabby with his hands in one scene, but as he stands in front of a Patrice Lumumba 'Uhuru' poster in another, is correct in warning her that she may be treated like a slave in France. When she gets there she soon finds herself bored with being confined to mundane tasks in a small home, disappointed for having been deceived about what she would be doing there, lonely because of her isolation, and weary of being so openly spoken down to and angrily ordered around. In other words her reaction is what any intelligent person's reaction would be, but her employers don't see it that way. They think she's just lazy, and attribute her quietness with ignorance, casually likening her to an animal. When they entertain their friends, another way they take away her humanity is by speaking about her as if she's not there, and by critically sizing her up as some kind of exotic thing.
I loved the scenes in Senegal, and wished there had been more. I also liked the aspects of quiet dignity in poverty, and the brilliant ending scene. It is so pitch perfect that the initial response of white guilt is to turn to money, instead of empathizing or trying to understand. It might have been better fleshed out, but it's a very good movie as it is.
more like an ardent manifesto than an artistic adventure
lasttimeisaw19 September 2016
Senegalese auteur Ousmane Sembene's feature debut, engraved in the film history as the first Sub-Saharan African feature film made by an African filmmaker. But the "very first"tag doesn't necessarily guarantee a masterpiece for its own sake, BLACK GIRL, recently restored to its original transfer with vintage graininess and monochrome sheen, running approximately 60 minutes, has been rammed down audience's throat more like an ardent manifesto than an artistic adventure.
Diouana (Diop) is a young Senegalese girl, has been working for a French couple as their child- minder in Dakar, when the couple is transferred to Antibes, they intend to continue hiring her, offers her a one-way ticket to Antibes living with them. Thrilled by the opportunity to come to France, Diouana arrives with high hopes, like any girl in her age, pining for a new life in a developed country, breathing the fresh air of the Western civilization and seeing a world beyond her imagination, only all turns out to be a dashed dream.
Upon arrival, Diouana surprisingly finds out that the couple's kids are not there, instead, she is requested to work as a maid, cooking, cleaning and all other trappings. As days go by, we are guided by Diouana's inner voice, she becomes increasingly disillusioned with misgivings, questions and reminiscences of her life in Dakar, eventually she realizes that she has been cheated and exploited, living like a prisoner in the apartment, France to her merely means her tiny bedroom and the kitchen, what is worse that she is illiterate, therefore she cannot even express her true feelings in letters to her mother in Dakar. What can she do enmeshed in such dire circumstances? Diouana plumps for the most radical way to lay bare her protest, ire and accusation against the stuck-up madame (Jelinek, a force of unapologetic monstrosity) and the aloof monsieur (a grotesquely- looking Fontaine), it is as searing as startling, she has other alternatives, but in Sembene's ideology, perhaps, this is the best tack to provoke a rude awakening.
Ultimately the film serves as Sembene's fervent anti-colonialism diatribe, a symbolic indigenous wooden mask relentlessly haunts the guilty party, where the poverty-stricken country holds its dignity in a defiant way, BLACK GIRL, also benefits from its unruffled frame compositions, marks the dawn of African cinema which finally finds its voice to speak volumes about the cinema- eschewing continent's own story, history and ethos, for that particular reason, Sembene's debut can promisingly function as a stepping stone and find its niche in a hallowed recess.
Diouana (Diop) is a young Senegalese girl, has been working for a French couple as their child- minder in Dakar, when the couple is transferred to Antibes, they intend to continue hiring her, offers her a one-way ticket to Antibes living with them. Thrilled by the opportunity to come to France, Diouana arrives with high hopes, like any girl in her age, pining for a new life in a developed country, breathing the fresh air of the Western civilization and seeing a world beyond her imagination, only all turns out to be a dashed dream.
Upon arrival, Diouana surprisingly finds out that the couple's kids are not there, instead, she is requested to work as a maid, cooking, cleaning and all other trappings. As days go by, we are guided by Diouana's inner voice, she becomes increasingly disillusioned with misgivings, questions and reminiscences of her life in Dakar, eventually she realizes that she has been cheated and exploited, living like a prisoner in the apartment, France to her merely means her tiny bedroom and the kitchen, what is worse that she is illiterate, therefore she cannot even express her true feelings in letters to her mother in Dakar. What can she do enmeshed in such dire circumstances? Diouana plumps for the most radical way to lay bare her protest, ire and accusation against the stuck-up madame (Jelinek, a force of unapologetic monstrosity) and the aloof monsieur (a grotesquely- looking Fontaine), it is as searing as startling, she has other alternatives, but in Sembene's ideology, perhaps, this is the best tack to provoke a rude awakening.
Ultimately the film serves as Sembene's fervent anti-colonialism diatribe, a symbolic indigenous wooden mask relentlessly haunts the guilty party, where the poverty-stricken country holds its dignity in a defiant way, BLACK GIRL, also benefits from its unruffled frame compositions, marks the dawn of African cinema which finally finds its voice to speak volumes about the cinema- eschewing continent's own story, history and ethos, for that particular reason, Sembene's debut can promisingly function as a stepping stone and find its niche in a hallowed recess.
An unwavering symbolic tale of colonialism
andrewroy-0431620 May 2020
Black Girl presents an allegory for European colonialism in Africa through the lens of a Senegalese woman who secures a job in France. Sembene makes careful directorial choices to emphasize the contrasts between Senegal and France and the divide between Diouana's expectations for France and the reality. One of these choices is the use of nonlinear time - the film opens with her arrival in France and shows her interactions with Madame, then goes back in time to when she secured the job in Senegal. The striking difference between these two times is Diouana's attitude. In Senegal, when she is offered the job she is overjoyed at the opportunity, especially since it involves taking care of kids. However, when she gets there, she doesn't see the kids, is told to do all the work around the house, and is berated by Madame for being lazy. Seeing Diouana's frustrating situation is more resonant in only realizing afterwards how excited she was for the job going in. Her body language is a world apart, as in France she never smiles and has no energy but in Senegal was beaming when she got the job, and was so excited to see what France was like. I also like Sembene's choice to have her inner monologue as narration, as that further serves to put the audience inside Diouana's head. Her perspective is essential to understanding the way she is completely devastated by her experience, and from the first scenes of the film we are put in her point of view as we look out the window onto France through her eyes. Madame presented it as a great opportunity for her to make money and do what she enjoys - be with children - but then doesn't give her what she promised and by the time she does, her condescension and demands have sucked all the life from Diouana. You can interpret the symbolism of the film in many ways, and mine may change, but my impression now is that the film symbolizes the way Europe seemed to offer to help African countries but really just exploited them for all their resources, denied them the opportunity promised to give the next generation a better life, and then saw it as a surprising, random, unfortunate event when the countries are even worse off. The exploitation element is made explicit by Diouana's narration at the end, where she talks about being done being a slave. The mask is another interesting symbol in the film, one of African culture. We see how Diouana shares it with the family initially but they then appropriate it and treat it as their own, and at the end of the film Monsieur is haunted by it as the legacy of his sins. Really smart and well layered, and with a poignant ending, Black Girl is an excellent allegory.
Decent but Lacked Depth
view_and_review27 February 2019
This movie ventured outside of my normal purview. This was a French film that was very much an independent film. It was clearly low budget, much like a student film. I had no problem with that, nor did I have a problem with the subtitles. Where the movie lost me was with the main character, Diouna. She was very attractive but she lacked any range whatsoever. Her emotions ranged from mild indifference to slightly sullen. And she had extremely few lines besides the voice over narration.
Ultimately, I think it lacked true depth. I see the message that they were trying to convey: money, France (Europe)--and by extension--white people aren't all that glamorous. There was only so much Diouna was going to do for a paycheck. I think the movie was too elementary and only touched the surface. I think a wider range of emotions and situations could've helped to drive home the overall sentiment.
Ultimately, I think it lacked true depth. I see the message that they were trying to convey: money, France (Europe)--and by extension--white people aren't all that glamorous. There was only so much Diouna was going to do for a paycheck. I think the movie was too elementary and only touched the surface. I think a wider range of emotions and situations could've helped to drive home the overall sentiment.
A study of racist French attitudes to their former African subjects that is now of mainly historical interest
crculver7 June 2019
In 1966, Senegalese author Ousmane Sembene was among the first Black Africans to shoot a feature film with LA NOIRE DE... ("Black Girl"). It deals with the plight of Diouana (Mbissine Thérèse Diop), a Senegalese girl who is hired on as a nanny by a French expat family in Dakar. Initially she is elated to have work, and moreover, work for the country's white elites. After the family returns to France and takes Diouana with her, she finds herself nearly a prisoner, as what should have been an ordinary job with some dignity to it becomes menial drudgery far beyond the initial agreement.
Though the plot is a straightforward drama, Sembene also lends the film a metaphoric dimension to confront the enduring legacy of colonialism in the newly independent Senegal, the desire of some Africans for revenge against their erstwhile colonial rulers, as well as political tensions within Africa's ostensibly representative democracies. These elements are, however, so subtle that many viewers without a knowledge of the immediate post-colonial era may miss them.
Yet with its 55-minute running time that awkwardly falls between a short and a typical feature, LA NOIRE DE... does feel slight. It is shot at a level of quality comparable to any French film of this era (some awkward jump cuts and bad dubbing aside), but it can be seen as a mere tech demo for the more ample, ambitious films that African directors would go on to make in subsequent years.
Though the plot is a straightforward drama, Sembene also lends the film a metaphoric dimension to confront the enduring legacy of colonialism in the newly independent Senegal, the desire of some Africans for revenge against their erstwhile colonial rulers, as well as political tensions within Africa's ostensibly representative democracies. These elements are, however, so subtle that many viewers without a knowledge of the immediate post-colonial era may miss them.
Yet with its 55-minute running time that awkwardly falls between a short and a typical feature, LA NOIRE DE... does feel slight. It is shot at a level of quality comparable to any French film of this era (some awkward jump cuts and bad dubbing aside), but it can be seen as a mere tech demo for the more ample, ambitious films that African directors would go on to make in subsequent years.
somewhat disturbing African portrait
jondav15 August 2001
The print I saw was a bit erratic and grainy, and included one jumpy sequence in color, whereas the rest was in black and white. This is the deceptively simple story of a woman from Senegal who joins a French family in France to be their nanny touches on many cultural, colonial, racial, and emotional issues, and if you look for easy answers, or answers at all, you'll be disappointed. There's a bit of French New Wave to the film, though it's really mostly African, featuring Senegalese music on the soundtrack. The only real flaw I see is that the story is told rather sketchily, with little in the way of clues as to the timing. Do the events take place over the course of a few days or weeks? The ending comes up so quickly that it feels a little forced, though not entirely unexpected.
La noire de... (1966) Veiled slavery
claszdsburrogato27 January 2024
"La noire de..." is a film that explores slavery in a much more closed environment, without covering historical moments where slavery was common and even accepted.
In fact, the film shows us a completely different scenario, where we follow a Senegalese woman who needs a job so her family can live. The protagonist lives in a place of extreme poverty, so when she sees the opportunity to get a job, she doesn't hesitate.
The film presents us with a happy and smiling character, even though he lives in a precarious situation. However, as the film goes on, we realize how life as a maid causes her to become increasingly depressed and tired of life. The montage alternates between moments in the past and present. This makes the changes in the protagonist's personality very visible. Before going to France, she seems to be very excited, but the viewer already knows the situation she is living in at present.
The slave owners in this story are arrogant and think that by paying her for her work, it will make it less of a problem. They believe that all she needs is money and nothing else. They never really care about the character's physical and mental health. In many moments it is possible to see how they think they are good people and worthy of exaltation, but the reality is completely different.
The film is cruel and sad. He is not afraid to demonstrate the protagonist's pain and expose the arrogance of those who feel superior to her. The ending is shocking and very significant for everything that was told during the narrative. An important and excellent work.
In fact, the film shows us a completely different scenario, where we follow a Senegalese woman who needs a job so her family can live. The protagonist lives in a place of extreme poverty, so when she sees the opportunity to get a job, she doesn't hesitate.
The film presents us with a happy and smiling character, even though he lives in a precarious situation. However, as the film goes on, we realize how life as a maid causes her to become increasingly depressed and tired of life. The montage alternates between moments in the past and present. This makes the changes in the protagonist's personality very visible. Before going to France, she seems to be very excited, but the viewer already knows the situation she is living in at present.
The slave owners in this story are arrogant and think that by paying her for her work, it will make it less of a problem. They believe that all she needs is money and nothing else. They never really care about the character's physical and mental health. In many moments it is possible to see how they think they are good people and worthy of exaltation, but the reality is completely different.
The film is cruel and sad. He is not afraid to demonstrate the protagonist's pain and expose the arrogance of those who feel superior to her. The ending is shocking and very significant for everything that was told during the narrative. An important and excellent work.
2023.9.12
EasonVonn12 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
First time watching a movie made by an African director
Ousmane Sembène The audiovisual language is pretty awesome, with two timelines cross-cutting to tell the story of a black girl to illustrate social issues from a true story. Seems to show the idea that capitalism is just another slavery through the post House Maid.
The hiding in the toilet sequence is a masterpiece, as well as the composition of the mistress' husband sleeping is simply applauded.
The final suicide of the girl is accompanied by upbeat music that begins to rise. With the death of the suicide scene to form a huge cut. A flesh and blood character died in front of us. Shocking SMACK ME ON MY FACE!
In the end the black girl's family refused the money. It's as if they are living a stern condemnation of the capitalist system
Ready to see Mouki Bouki next.
Ousmane Sembène The audiovisual language is pretty awesome, with two timelines cross-cutting to tell the story of a black girl to illustrate social issues from a true story. Seems to show the idea that capitalism is just another slavery through the post House Maid.
The hiding in the toilet sequence is a masterpiece, as well as the composition of the mistress' husband sleeping is simply applauded.
The final suicide of the girl is accompanied by upbeat music that begins to rise. With the death of the suicide scene to form a huge cut. A flesh and blood character died in front of us. Shocking SMACK ME ON MY FACE!
In the end the black girl's family refused the money. It's as if they are living a stern condemnation of the capitalist system
Ready to see Mouki Bouki next.
I Don't Get It
disinterested_spectator16 January 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Apparently, the movie is supposed to show us how black Africans are mistreated by white French people. Diouana is desperate for work as a maid in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. She has doors slammed in her face, and finally is told to sit on a particular corner and wait for someone to come by who wants a maid. Day after day, she and a lot of other desperate women sit and wait to be hired.
Along comes "Madame," a white French woman looking for a governess. She selects Diouana, presumably because she is the only woman who does not crowd around her trying to get the job. After taking care of the children for a while, Diouana agrees to go to France with Madame and "Monsieur." Though Madame makes Diouana a lot of promises about how nice it will be for her in France, when they get there, Diouana discovers that she is expected to be a maid and a cook as well as a governess. As a result, she never gets to see France. In fact, she never even gets to leave the apartment. She feels like a slave. Furthermore, Madame is very demanding, and always complaining that Diouana is lazy. Granted, this is not a great job, but it is a job. It's better than the desperate struggle she endured trying to find work in Dakar.
After what appears to be several months, the situation has deteriorated to the point that Diouana begins acting insolent, and she refuses to work out of resentment for the way she is being treated. Monsieur, who seems much nicer than Madame, has apparently been holding her wages for her, which amount to twenty thousand francs.
It is at this point that the clash of cultures really leaves me bewildered. I don't know what twenty thousand francs was worth in 1966, but it sounds like a fair amount of money, presumably enough for Diouana to book passage back to Dakar. If that is not enough money, she could just keep working there until she does save enough to go back home. If she saves a little more than that, she will have enough to cushion herself until she finds work with a nicer family. But no. She commits suicide by opening up her veins.
Monsieur tries to do the right thing by returning Diouana's belongings to her mother, along with the wages she earned. But her mother, whom we know to be desperate for money, refuses to take it. I guess it has something to do with pride, but after all, Diouana earned it, so what's the big deal?
In other words, while I agree that Madame was not a nice person to work for, I just don't see that Diouana's situation was so bad that she had to give up and take her own life. I would have just taken the wages and split.
Along comes "Madame," a white French woman looking for a governess. She selects Diouana, presumably because she is the only woman who does not crowd around her trying to get the job. After taking care of the children for a while, Diouana agrees to go to France with Madame and "Monsieur." Though Madame makes Diouana a lot of promises about how nice it will be for her in France, when they get there, Diouana discovers that she is expected to be a maid and a cook as well as a governess. As a result, she never gets to see France. In fact, she never even gets to leave the apartment. She feels like a slave. Furthermore, Madame is very demanding, and always complaining that Diouana is lazy. Granted, this is not a great job, but it is a job. It's better than the desperate struggle she endured trying to find work in Dakar.
After what appears to be several months, the situation has deteriorated to the point that Diouana begins acting insolent, and she refuses to work out of resentment for the way she is being treated. Monsieur, who seems much nicer than Madame, has apparently been holding her wages for her, which amount to twenty thousand francs.
It is at this point that the clash of cultures really leaves me bewildered. I don't know what twenty thousand francs was worth in 1966, but it sounds like a fair amount of money, presumably enough for Diouana to book passage back to Dakar. If that is not enough money, she could just keep working there until she does save enough to go back home. If she saves a little more than that, she will have enough to cushion herself until she finds work with a nicer family. But no. She commits suicide by opening up her veins.
Monsieur tries to do the right thing by returning Diouana's belongings to her mother, along with the wages she earned. But her mother, whom we know to be desperate for money, refuses to take it. I guess it has something to do with pride, but after all, Diouana earned it, so what's the big deal?
In other words, while I agree that Madame was not a nice person to work for, I just don't see that Diouana's situation was so bad that she had to give up and take her own life. I would have just taken the wages and split.
Quiet Tragedy
theognis-808215 February 2024
"No one can treat a man like a dog without first regarding him as a man" wrote Jean-Paul Sartre. This is a lesson unlearned by upper middle class housewife "Madame" (Anne-Marie Jelinek), who goes shopping for childcare help in a visit to Senegal. She chooses from a group of indigent women, imploring her for employment on a street corner, quiet, modest Gomis Diouana (Mbissine Therese Diop), who is literally jumping for joy as she reports to her mother that she has hope for a future in France. Once there, she is employed as a maid, patronized, threatened, addressed curtly and insulted, while the quiet dignity that attracted Madame's attention is ignored and degraded.
Simple but Intriguing
robsta2310 April 2015
Warning: Spoilers
I am not exactly sure what would considered to be "feature length," but this film is a good example of a shorter film - close to 60 minutes. The key to this gem is the idea of tension between social classes/ethnicities when the titular "black girl" doesn't believe such a tension would be created.
The protagonist is picked up from Dakar, and she expects to be working as a maid when her client is looking for workers. She tells the audience her internal thoughts with voice over and we know her expectations are to not be treated like a slave. This is a tragic story with a never-ending loop, where the girl refuses to work until she can eat or be paid while her employer refuses to feed her until she works. We feel for Diouana because she is told to do work that is not even part of her duties such as watching the children; she believes that responsibility should be the mother's, and she is right.
What is upsetting is that she slashes her own throat so that she will not live without her dignity. This movie was so short there isn't much to say; it is a good tragedy but one I would only like to see once.
The protagonist is picked up from Dakar, and she expects to be working as a maid when her client is looking for workers. She tells the audience her internal thoughts with voice over and we know her expectations are to not be treated like a slave. This is a tragic story with a never-ending loop, where the girl refuses to work until she can eat or be paid while her employer refuses to feed her until she works. We feel for Diouana because she is told to do work that is not even part of her duties such as watching the children; she believes that responsibility should be the mother's, and she is right.
What is upsetting is that she slashes her own throat so that she will not live without her dignity. This movie was so short there isn't much to say; it is a good tragedy but one I would only like to see once.
From militant silence to militant voice
dmgrundy9 November 2020
The simple scenario, based on a newspaper report, finds the titular character, Diouana, moving from Senegal to the South of France to take up a position as domestic for a bourgeois French couple whose business interests in Dakar are, it's implied, waning in the post-independence moment. But the power relations within the French apartment are still very much titled in their favour-horrifyingly so-as their neglect and abuse of Diouana, withholding her earnings and preventing her leaving the apartment, see her ultimately commit suicide rather than continue in the status of property. Little under an hour in length, the spatial and temporal constriction of the film gives it at once the clarity of a fable and the brute reality of the observed. Few other films that so well to suggest space, to excavate the contours, the power relations of a series of rooms ('Petra Von Kant', a very different film-though, at least in its ending, it also has something to say about labour and silence-has a similar constriction, whilst seeming more 'theatrical'). Sembène relentlessly exploits the way imprisoning social walls take place within a domestic space-the rooms of the apartment paced, evaded, sites of divided and perpetual labour in which white employees take out their frustrations on themselves and on their servant, demanding that their ash trays, their dishes, the traces of their afternoon boozing be cleared almost as soon as they've appeared by a worker whose human presence must be reduced at every cost. Trapped within the apartment with no way to escape, Diouana faces few options for active resistance. How can one organise a workplace when within that workplace-which is also one's new home-one is kept entirely solitary, essentially cut off from the outside world? Diouana's eventual acts of resistance are to reclaim the mask she'd gifted her employers in Dakar when they wooed her with promises of a cosmopolitan lifestyle and apparent personable tolerance; refusing to work even when told 'no work, no food'; and ultimately, her suicide, the newspaper report which inspired the film. As the ambiguity of the film's title-erased (and gendered) in its English translation-suggests, Diouana has been rendered the property 'of' her employers-'Le Noir De'...' as at once 'The (Property) *of* (her employers)' and 'The (Property) *from* (Dakar, transplanted to Antibes)'. Given this, her hunger strike, work stoppage and ultimate removal of herself prevents her from becoming something to be used, even as it also removes her from the world as such. In the film's coda, 'Monsieur' returns to Dakar to bring her parents news of her death, his offer of money-a kind of bad conscience pay-off-brusquely refused by her mother. The tables have not exactly turned, but as he's followed by the child wearing the mask that Diounna had gifted her employers, which they've taken as a trophy of display just as they bring Diounna herself back from Dakar, his discomfort suggests the white subject no longer quite as at home in the world he surveys-even as this post-independence film strongly suggested that the official ending of colonialism had by no means solved the majority of its problems, the systems of racialised and gendered exploitation that take place in centre as well as periphery, the sharp distances that keep the two separate and invisible to each other.
Such invisibility has, in part, to do with the linguistic consequences of underdevelopment-the lack of access to the written word (or, for that matter, the spoken word of the colonial powers by which so much of the economic and power relations is transacted, upheld and sustained.) Sembène, whose political career began as activist (see Billy Woodberry's excellent recent 'Marseilles Apres la Guerre'), thence to writing and thence to cinema, makes films because this is the only way to convey an artistic statement-by which art is meant in its fully socialised senses, not as removed domain for the edification of an already-trained class-to those who literally cannot read. Illiteracy forms a key role when Diouana's employers read out to her the letter written by her mother-in dictation to the schoolteacher-asking for money and for news, and themselves write out 'her' reply with its lies of good treatment and happiness. Having had her earnings stored away from her and having been prevented from leaving her place of work, and lacking the literacy to write, Diouana has been completely cut off, doubly deprived of a voice. Diouana's response-to rip up the letter from her mother-suggests, that as Tessa Nunn puts it, "No message is better than a message that upholds the status quo." Likewise, after Diouana's death, her mother's response to Monsieur's offer of money is simply to walk away: not denunciation, not spoken refusal (across the gap of language), but a palpable silent gesture. Sembène does not suggest that these silent gestures-the mother's walking away, Diouana ripping up the letter, refusing work and food and then life itself-are anything like acts of resistance that have reached to the level of the collectively politicised. If cinema can depict them, literacy will enable a voice to be given to that which can only figure its defiance through a militant silence.
To move beyond such silence, Sembène insists that tools of resistance and re-education against the mendacious and continuing forms of colonialism and neo-colonialism include art, far from the 'luxury' it can be assumed to be within certain Western Marxist discourses. Sembène places himself to the edge of the film's final scenes, a figure of relaxed gravitas as the pipe-smoking schoolteacher in the cheaply constructed École, a figure of authority and transmission paralleling his own conception of the role of the filmmaker. It's the schoolteacher who writes Diouana's families letters to her-the only means of communication they have with their daughter once she leaves the country-and he who translates for 'Monsieur' when he performs his exculpatory visit. Sembène the filmmaker also serves as both translator, educator, and the one who will provide the audience the means to articulate themselves, rather than through the representational projections and occlusions of others. Cinema here functions as resistance and re-education, but it also serves as access to an affective truth without which the film would be useless. The film thus depicts not only the objective grimness of Diouana's situation but the intwined the subjective effects within her, a subjective mode that can never be articulated within the frames in which she finds herself trapped: it externalises that which cannot be externalised, tries to give voice to the experience of a person whose death otherwise occupies a few sentences of sensational newsprint, no more. To externalise requires language-oral if it can't be written, visual, if it can't be spoken-hence cinema.
Such invisibility has, in part, to do with the linguistic consequences of underdevelopment-the lack of access to the written word (or, for that matter, the spoken word of the colonial powers by which so much of the economic and power relations is transacted, upheld and sustained.) Sembène, whose political career began as activist (see Billy Woodberry's excellent recent 'Marseilles Apres la Guerre'), thence to writing and thence to cinema, makes films because this is the only way to convey an artistic statement-by which art is meant in its fully socialised senses, not as removed domain for the edification of an already-trained class-to those who literally cannot read. Illiteracy forms a key role when Diouana's employers read out to her the letter written by her mother-in dictation to the schoolteacher-asking for money and for news, and themselves write out 'her' reply with its lies of good treatment and happiness. Having had her earnings stored away from her and having been prevented from leaving her place of work, and lacking the literacy to write, Diouana has been completely cut off, doubly deprived of a voice. Diouana's response-to rip up the letter from her mother-suggests, that as Tessa Nunn puts it, "No message is better than a message that upholds the status quo." Likewise, after Diouana's death, her mother's response to Monsieur's offer of money is simply to walk away: not denunciation, not spoken refusal (across the gap of language), but a palpable silent gesture. Sembène does not suggest that these silent gestures-the mother's walking away, Diouana ripping up the letter, refusing work and food and then life itself-are anything like acts of resistance that have reached to the level of the collectively politicised. If cinema can depict them, literacy will enable a voice to be given to that which can only figure its defiance through a militant silence.
To move beyond such silence, Sembène insists that tools of resistance and re-education against the mendacious and continuing forms of colonialism and neo-colonialism include art, far from the 'luxury' it can be assumed to be within certain Western Marxist discourses. Sembène places himself to the edge of the film's final scenes, a figure of relaxed gravitas as the pipe-smoking schoolteacher in the cheaply constructed École, a figure of authority and transmission paralleling his own conception of the role of the filmmaker. It's the schoolteacher who writes Diouana's families letters to her-the only means of communication they have with their daughter once she leaves the country-and he who translates for 'Monsieur' when he performs his exculpatory visit. Sembène the filmmaker also serves as both translator, educator, and the one who will provide the audience the means to articulate themselves, rather than through the representational projections and occlusions of others. Cinema here functions as resistance and re-education, but it also serves as access to an affective truth without which the film would be useless. The film thus depicts not only the objective grimness of Diouana's situation but the intwined the subjective effects within her, a subjective mode that can never be articulated within the frames in which she finds herself trapped: it externalises that which cannot be externalised, tries to give voice to the experience of a person whose death otherwise occupies a few sentences of sensational newsprint, no more. To externalise requires language-oral if it can't be written, visual, if it can't be spoken-hence cinema.
a deep study of racism and post colonialism
willeasyer30 June 2020
"i am here to do the house shore or take care of the kids" the thing that hit me about this film is the condescendence Joana is treated with, in the middle of this white family who seems to have lost their colonist lifestyle in Dakar, directly addressing the effects of colonialism, racism, and post-colonial identity in Africa and Europe. These themes are highlighted through the recurring appearance of an African mask that Diouana gives to her employers on her first day of work at the house. They put the mask with other pieces of African Art and, later, the mask is hung on the white wall in the French couple's Senegalese apartment, alone. The mask has a different meaning.it's a deep study of latent racism, colonialism. it's also a juxtaposition of life in France and Africa for this African girl. when she was in Africa she wanted to be in France for the opportunity and when she arrived in France she regretted her freedom and found her self a victim of racism and modern soft slavery. Her life was more open in her hometown even with poverty while in France she was trapped between her room and the kitchen. for me, this movie is timeless because it tackles the white superiorité fantasy, modern racism, immigration, and the myth of inclusion in the occidental societies faced with opportunism and exploitation.
Awful awful awful awful awful.
futures-121 October 2011
"Black Girl" ("Borom Sarret") (French/African, 1966): Read any book about film, and this one is cited as a GREAT work. Well folks, the King Has No Clothes. A brain-damaged college freshman could've done better. Here's what the STORY tried to be: an African woman is hired as a child caretaker in Africa, and later follows the French family to France to continue working for them. She doesn't like it. She complains a lot, thinks of herself as a slave, and eventually does something drastic. I'm telling you this isn't just a yawn... it is story full of plot holes, no character depth, no situational empathy (although I suspect viewers were EXPECTED to have strong feelings and side with the "poor girl"), continuity problems, and a motivational mess. That's not all. The movie has TERRIBLE camera work, crappy lighting, editing equal to a monkey with scissors, scoring that makes no sense and has no subtlety, acting that just plain stinks, location shots that are perhaps the worst I've ever seen
I'm simply ASTOUNDED at the kudos given this terrible mess of a lousy film. I can only surmise that in this case the "King has no clothes" Syndrome was the 1960's politically correct social agenda in the Euro/American sphere for recognizing black/white equal rights - which caused it to be held high for its (possible) intentions when in reality it deserved to be tossed in the garbage can as a failed attempt.
JUST SAY NO...TO DOING WINDOWS...!
masonfisk7 October 2023
A seminal film from the 1966 detailing an African national's trip to France because of a job but it is soon apparent the times & attitudes are against her. Shot in crisp black & white & w/a constant African score playing in the background, our heroine was promised a position as an aupair of sorts for the mistress of the house but when her duties become those of a domestic, the true nature of master & servant become disappointingly evident. A certain passive resignation fuels the film's fatalism as the film marches to its expected end but there is a certain dignity achieved when the domestic achieves a kind of noble grace in her refusal to concede to her station.
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