Bray, M.J. and Calatayud, A. 2007. Remembrance of things past: new Perspectives on films and French domination in Algeria. The significance of François Luciani’s L’Algérie des Chimères (2003). e-France. 1, pp. 108-128.
| Title | Remembrance of things past: new Perspectives on films and French domination in Algeria. The significance of François Luciani’s L’Algérie des Chimères (2003) |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bray, M.J. and Calatayud, A. |
| Abstract | In 2003, an array of cultural events collectively known as: “Djazaïr, une année de l’Algérie” officially celebrated the relationship between France and Algeria. Numerous recent films and documentaries were programmed on television, most of which concentrated on the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) or on immigration issues. This article, showing that these built on the plethora of existing films on the subject, challenges the commonly held view that the War in Algeria was always absent from public forums. Secondly, the article demonstrates an interesting development as illustrated in François Luciani’s L’Algérie des chimères: the film unusually depicts the forty years starting from the conquest of Algeria to the advent of the Third Republic (1830-1870). Through its characters, in particular the female ones, Luciani highlights a number of historical events virtually unknown by the general population: the violence at the heart of the conquest, the failure of the Saint-Simonian ideal of the Arab Kingdom, and finally of the doomed marriage between the Orient and the Occident. In so doing, Luciani contributes to the advent of a more dispassionate history in place of the trauma and hurt born from the War of Independence. |
| Keywords | French cinema, Jacques Doillon, Film financing |
| Journal | e-France |
| Journal citation | 1, pp. 108-128 |
| ISSN | 1756-0535 |
| Year | 2007 |
| Publisher | Intellect |
| Web address (URL) | http://www.reading.ac.uk/e-france/First%20Issue/Bray%20&%20Calatayud%20Remembrance%20of%20Things%20Past.pdf |
| Publication dates | |
| Published | 2007 |