Cinematographic Art & Documentation

Transcription

1 Hyperion University, The Faculty of Arts, Bucharest Cinematographic Art & Documentation (CA&D) Journal of cinematographic studies, Nr. 7 (11). New series biannual publication Tracus Arte Publishing House Bucharest, 2013 ISSN:

2 Hyperion University, Bucharest Cinematographic Art & Documentation Journal of cinematographic studies, nr. 7 (11), New Series, 2013 ISSN: Editorial Board Editor in Chief Professor DOINA RUŞTI Hyperion University, Bucharest Associate Editors Professor NICOLETTA ISAR Institute of Art History, Department of Arts & Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen Denmark Professor EFSTRATIA OKTAPODA Sorbonne, Paris IV Professor ILEANA ORLICH Arizona State University LINDA MARIA BAROS, Ph.D. Sorbonne, Paris IV Redactors Lecturer IOAN CRISTESCU, Ph.D, Hyperion University, Bucharest Lecturer COSMIN PERŢA, Ph.D, Hyperion University, Bucharest

3 Associate Professor FELIX NICOLAU, Ph.D, Hyperion University, Bucharest Associate Professor RAMONA MIHĂILĂ, Ph.D. Spiru C. Haret University, Bucharest Associate Professor LIANA IONESCU, Ph.D., Hyperion University, Bucharest Lecturer CARMEN DOMINTE, Ph.D, Hyperion University, Bucharest Associate Professor ELENA SAULEA, National University of Drama and Film, Bucharest, "I.L. Caragiale", Bucharest Managing Editor IOAN CRISTESCU Advisory Editors Professor EUSEBIU ŞTEFĂNESCU, Hyperion University, Bucharest Associate Professor IOAN CĂRMĂZAN, Ph.D., Hyperion University, Bucharest, Film Director, vice-president of Filmmakers Union (UARF) MAIA MORGENSTERN, Hyperion University, The National Theatre, Bucharest Associate Professor GEO SAIZESCU, Ph.D., Hyperion University, Bucharest, Film Director, President of IECCCEI (European Cultural Institute for Communication, Knowledge and Education through Image) Professor ION SPÂNULESCU, Hyperion University, Bucharest Cover: EMILIA PETRE Foto: RADU SEBASTIAN DPT&Pre-Press EMILIA PETRE

4 SUMMARY I. Cinematographic Art Liana IONESCU, associate professor, PhD, Hyperion University, Bucharest - Advertising and Screen Proliferation / 5 Ema A. STOIAN, M.A. candidate, Beijing Film Academy China - Feimu, one of China's Greatest Directors Legacy -Between Politics and Aesthetics. / 11 Ileana IACOBESCU, MSc c., University of Edinburgh, UK - Phone Booth: Acousmêtre, De- Acousmatization, and the Visible Acousmêtre / 16 Gabriela ILIUTA, lecturer Ph.D, Spiru Haret University, Bucharest - The 25th Hour Movie as an Act of Identity Rupture / 21 Elena SAULEA, associate professor, Ph.D, National University of Drama and Film, Bucharest, "I.L. Caragiale", Bucharest - Le cinema roumain au sein de la francophonie / 28 Florin GIOROC associate professor Hyperion University, Bucharest - From Silent to Sound. Beginnings of Sound Techniques in Romanian Film / 33 II. Cultural Studies: Women Barbara A. NELSON, professor, University of Bucharest - Re-dressing Identity: Maria Antoinette and Frida Kahlo. / 45 Ramona MIHĂILĂ, associate professor, Ph.D, Spiru Haret University, Bucharest - Reflections on Motherhood and Widowhood in Nineteenth Century Novel. / 52 Rabia REDOUANE, associate professor, PhD, Montclair State University, Enjeux de l écriture dans L excisée d Evelyne ACCAD. / 59

5 ADVERTISING AND SCREEN PROLIFERATION Associate Professor LIANA IONESCU *, PhD, Hyperion University, Bucharest Don t give me any crap, give me something that adds value to my life. Mobile devices owners view Abstract: The present study is about the screen proliferation that has changed the consumers behaviour, and about the initiatives of the marketers to engage their ad campaigns across screens. To analyse how the advertisers integrate in their strategies the new technologies, and develop new platforms in order to win, or to survive, in the so called Battle of the Screens. I agree with, even the marketers cannot ignore the smartphones and the tablets, the classic screens, as cinema and TV, continue to be reliable supports for the advertisers. Finally, the study takes into account some strategies to produce quality content in today s hyper-connected environment. Keywords: online advertising, multi-screens, real-time bidding, storytelling, Cannes Lions. Introduction The number of media consumers and screens is growing rapidly. Just a few years ago, TV was the single screen in our life. Now, screens surround people, and consumers relate differently to each screen. A report on multi-screen advertising solutions, commissioned by Microsoft Advertising, IPSOS and BBDO Worldwide 1 * noticed that if the screen were a person, it would be: TV a friend and a jester, who brings entertainment into the family; PC a sage, who stands for wisdom and sound judgment; mobile phone a lover, or an intimate friend; and tablet PC a wizard, that makes things happen. Customers use different screens anywhere and anytime to get what they want, when they want it. And each type of screens has a personality shaped by its owner s perception, location, and age. In a world of digital marketing, the proliferation of screens feels like a battle * Liana Ionescu, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Journalism, Hyperion University, Bucharest. Areas of research: Communication Theory, Radio/TVjournalism. Books: Adevărul în metaştiinţa contemporană (Bucharest, 2006), România şi integrarea europeană. Logici şi rutine jurnalistice (coauthor), (Bucharest, 2008). [email protected] 1 Microsoft Advertising, IPSOS and BBDO Worldwide, Meet the Screens, report debated in a seminar at the Cannes Lions Festival ground. Advertisers are struggling to figure out what to do on different platforms and how to get the best results from the budgets. What opportunities are there for advertisers, agencies and publishers to create relevant and powerful experiences for the customer and unleash the full potential of the different platforms available to them? The Interact event organised this year at the end of May in Barcelona under the title The Battle of the Screens. Compete or Collaborate? 2 tries to answer to such kind of questions. During a two-day debate, leading European advertisers, agencies and media owners, regulators and policy makers will put the spotlight on how to respond to the challenge of ever increasing media fragmentation and screen proliferation and help companies deliver a better brand experience to their customers. TV, ad-films and new technologies TV commercials usually abbreviated as TV ads, ad-films, and known in UK as advert, or TV advert make up a huge part of the overall advertising pie. According to the BBDO report cited above, TV is more relevant than ever. It remains a great place to 2 See 5

6 tell stories, and consumers relationship with their TV screens is like that with an old friend. A tap of images delivered in real time, TV continues to attract consumers who love to be entertained. And branded entertainment couldn t miss this opportunity. The spots are shorter and shorter, from 30 seconds to even one second! On the other side, the rythm of airing them is more and more accelerated. And the spot is telling a story, it is like a movie. The ugly doesn t exist in. Everything is maggic: the voices, the images, the effects. The spot is in the logic of the dream and desire. Sometimes, the relationship with the produc is no longer obvious as it was. Stories become puzzles, and suggest senses and values: Think different! (Apple), Be yourself! (Calvin Klein), Impossible is nothing! (Adidas). Nevertheless, there are voices that consider commercials irrelevant. In the age of Facebook and Google s personal info and cookie retargeted ads, commercials, they say, are starting to look hopelessly disconnected. Whenever I watch TV, I can t help but be confused that advertisers would spend millions to reach the wrong audience. For all the clamour about return on investment for online ads, brands seem un-phased by the money they burn on the tube, said Josh Constine, a journalist specialised in deep analysis of social products, who graduated Stanford University. 3* He notices that Classically, TV commercials are targeted by mass market and which program they re displayed during. That means everyone in a city watching the same show watches the same ad even if they re in very different demographics. Economy car ads are shown to people too young to buy cars or so rich they d buy a better model. Pet food ads are shown to people who don t own pets. [idem]. Josh Constine underlines that there is a lack of personally targeted commercials. In his opinion, TV commercials must show different ads to different people in the same slot. For example, a car ad for middle-aged 3 Gracenote s Ad Replacement System that Personalizes TV Commercials Will Start in 2013, Dec.2012, at men and a jeans ad for young women. The analyst gives us guaranties that there is a technique solution for this TV problem. The technique is in the logic of the multiplex. Split the screen and telling two different stories, using simultaneously different images. 3D will be the next dimension in advertising. As far as the cinema is concerned and its audiences keep their 3D glasses on, the commercials have to be in 3D too. The digital deployment around the world has been driven by 3D movies since 2010, so the opportunity for 3D ads has exploded as well. When 3D TV finds a mass audience, then advertising too will follow in greater numbers. Cinema the biggest screen Even in the era of logation, cinema continues to be a vehicle of advertising communication. Cinema went from its beginning hand in hand with advertising, the star-system itself being considerate as a authentic advertising technique used for promoting the movies. Super-star is the most brilliant ad image, the magic marketing produce ever made. Far to be archaic, cinema is one of the big model of the economy dominated by marketing, branding and communication. Changes that are made regards the ways of making marketing, internet and mobile phones becoming the kings. Catch line is the ad slogan. Not only stars serve now to promote a movie, but making-offs, even video games and statistics regarding that movie, as well. Mass media speak simultaneously about that movie, regarding it as a big event, not to miss, all these in order to assure the biggest success possible, within the shortest time. It is event-centred cinema, and global cinema. Not only cinema uses more and more the techniques of marketing and advertising, but symmetrically ad industry uses the cinema as vehicle of the communication and marketing. So called product placement integrates a product or a brand into a movie, influencing the ordinary and the luxury consumers as well. The trailers of the movies accessible on the Internet serve also as a mirror for many products and brands. Unlike TV spots that interrupt the watching comfort of the TVspectator, product placement is a part of the 6

7 movie, making the story more credible. It is what Steven Spielberg did by integrated a number of brands in Minority Report [Lipovetsky, Serroy, 2007 : p.229]. Not to say that between 30 seconds for a spot, and one hour and a half to three hours, the duration of a movie, it is a big difference! Marketing via mobile phones Consumers behaviour is fundamentally shifting with the explosion of smartphones and tablets use. Across the globe, smartphones are revolutionizing the way people access and interact with the Internet. Marketers must either adapt advertising strategies to mobile phones and tablets or else be left behind in the mobile marketing race for good. At the end of 2012, almost half of all Americans already own smartphones. 4* That means that every segment of the population, from 13 year-olds to their 83 year-old great grandmothers, are utilizing smartphones. Predictably, younger population segments have even higher percentages of smartphone use. In the 18 to 29 year-old range, 66 % of Americans own smartphones; in the 30 to 49 year-old group, 59 % own smartphones. Marketers cannot ignore mobile devices, and must invest in advertising for them. However, according to the same study, only 12 percent of smart phone users say that they have ever intentionally click on an ad. Intentionally or not, the smartphones users are a target that cannot be ignore by the marketers. Even the consumers are not enough interested in online advertisments, more of them are viewing marketing content via mobile phones. Therefore, marketers must to compete for consumer attention through smartphones and tablets. First of all, they must take into attention the content, that has been king of online marketing. Content that looks good and is easy to use on a small screen. Integrating social media The multi-screen context forces the marketers to adopt new strategies that integrated social media and the new technologies in the online ad campaigns. In 2013, having a social media presence is a marketing practice as mainstream. Over the last five years, social media marketing has grown from a platform of scepticism by brands to an essential tactic of marketing plans. Around 90% of companies now have some type o social media presence. They uses social media to engage with customers and prospects in a strategic and structural way. Not in a ad-hoc way, like some years before. Integration of social media within companies processes is one of the main trends, as companies work to incorporate social beyond marketing and into customer service, sales, and research and development. Many companies integrated social media into the company website: some did so within marketing processes, and some integrated social media into the product development processes. When it comes to the specific social channels are using, Facebook, not surprisingly, tops the list. Small to large-sized businesses use a company Facebook page or engage and post content on relevant Facebook groups. Businesses everywhere are hopping on social media more than any other form of marketing because of its perceived low cost of entry. 5 But, just a few marketers ask what are the expectations of the customers face to the companies. And consumers are looking for from companies mainly freebies, deals, rewards and exclusive content. What marketers think consumers want, however, is more often along the lines of buying insights and improved customer service. And just a few marketers are concerned to close the gap between what's being offered via social media versus what customers actually want. Especially small and mid-size businesses must enhance their social media efforts, and build strong strategies behind their posts, in order to their messages become more effective. The perfect customer profile Online display ads have always allowed for more precise targeting and tracking than 4 Source: Pew Research Center s Projecy for Execellence in Journalism and Internet & American Life Project, in partenership with the Knight Foundation, Oct Read more at media/why-we-need-to-re-evaluate-social-media #AXfCmDmLs8mdp8lX.99 7

8 other forms of advertising, such as newspaper and television ads. In the past, online advertisers could target narrow audiences based upon rough demographic data provided by the site. Now, things are changing rapidly with the RTB (real-time bidding) advertising. RTB is the latest and greatest innovation of online display advertising. It consists of collecting data, with advertising cookies attached to the browses, about who the users are and what their browsing habits are. For example, advertising cookies might have ascertained that a particular Internet user is Romanian, female, 60 years of age, living in Bucharest and has been recently searching online for dessert recipes. If the next website that she visits has display advertising on it served by RTB ad providers, very rapidly that site will get bids from different advertisers and display the winning ad. Everything happens so quickly that users are never even aware that their attention is being fought over. 6* And RTB advertising is growing at a rapid rate. According to the IDC (International Data Corporation) 7, the realtime bidding advertising marketplace grew by 108 % in 2012 and shows no signs of slowing down this year. And the perfect story Content remains the king of the ads even the audience are migrating toward online, and new principles are governing the content consumption. As audiences began to join more niche networks and demand a higher level of interaction with brands online, creating relevant and valuable content that could be shared and consumed across multiple platforms became the number one objective for brands and businesses. When they say "content is king" they mean that consumers want quality content, a content that adds value to their daily life, and they interact with. The creation and sharing the content to attract users and customers became a do or die for online marketers in Excellent content will continue to trump all other form of online advertising in See more at 7 IDC is a market intelligence research, analysis and advisory firm specializing in information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology, founded in 1964, in Massachusetts, USA. Two are the challenges that marketers are facing on: how to introduce customers to quality content across multiple channels, especially including social media; how to produce content designed in such a way that it displays just as well on a smartphone as it does on a laptop. The marketers who successfully produce valuable content will create "sticky" customers and brand loyalty. The content becomes the online advertising. It can include: videos, slideshows, photos, blog posts, tweets, webinars, pod casts, white papers, e-books and everything else that goes online. But content is not simply what a company puts online. Today s online consumers are inundated with marketing messages and advertising ploys. Storytelling has always been an integral part of any successful content marketing strategy. The technology fuels the storytelling, and the content producers and publishers have evolved the way they tell their stories in today s hyper-connected environment. In today s world where social media rules and instant communications between customers and businesses is the norm, the art of storytelling has evolved. No longer can somebody just tell a great story; he/she needs to engage his/her audience by shifting from one-way storytelling to dynamic storytelling. To build trust and loyalty, marketing experts say brands will need to focus on smaller stories within their overall content strategy to show value to the customer right up front. A good storyteller captivates the people with his enthusiasm and sense of truth in such a way that people get lost in his words. Good content marketers could be able to make that type of connection with their audiences. In 2012, Latitude 8 set out to understand audiences evolving expectations for content experiences, their unmet needs, future desires, and the most promising areas of opportunity for story. Latitude conducted indepth interviews with pioneers in the media space to discuss specific challenges and innovations, and new possibilities for interacting with stories. Participants were 8 Latitude is an international research consultancy helping clients create engaging content, software and technology that harness the possibilities of the Web. 8

9 asked to play the role of producer, choosing a narrative (a book, movie, plot-driven video game, etc.) that they know well, and reinventing the way that audiences might experience that story. Latitude then designed a reliable coding scheme to quantify various themes in participants storytelling concepts. Study participants were ages 12-65, 60% males and 40% females, residing in the United States (78%) and other countries, including Australia, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. More than 3/4 owned and regularly used a smartphone, while 50% were tablet owners (44% were dual owners). Through an analysis of the themes present in the participants concepts, Latitude created the 4 I s of storytelling framework to illustrate key dimensions of good storytelling experiences: Immersion, Interactivity, Integration, Impact. Immersion: Can I go deeper into the storyworld, by learning more about it or by heightening my sensory experience of it? Interactivity: Can I change or influence elements of the story? Can I interact with other people around the story? Integration: Is a cohesive story being told across platforms? Can it interface with the real world in any way? Impact: Does the story inspire me to take action in my own life, such as making a purchase or supporting a g ood cause? According to The Future of Storytelling 9, * here it is what consumers expect in the future of brand storytelling: Immersion: Multi-media and multi-sensory content that creates an immersive experience; Interactivity: Consumers want to be involved / allow them to become a character in the story! Integration: Coherence across platforms. Be consistent and employ ideas that can interface with the real world; Impact: Initiate a call to action. Whether it s a purchase, Like or supporting a good cause, get your audience moving! Expectations of the audiences According to Latitude s study, audiences now expect to shift seamlessly from one device to another to pause a Netflix film on TV and resume watching later on a tablet. 9 A recent study conducted by research consultancy Latitude, which highlights audience attitudes towards branded content. That said, content creators should seek to deepen, not just duplicate, experiences across platforms by leveraging each environment s strengths (think: interactivity on tablets). The desire for differentiation is no longer niche, and soon it will become an expectation. Eighty-two percent of participants wanted more mobile apps that would complement, not just replicate, their TV viewing experiences, while fewer (68%) felt there should be more apps to help them access content they already watch elsewhere. It means that transmedia is more than mediashifting. Because we now have portable, sensorladen mobile devices that go everywhere with us, audiences feel that content in those devices should get smarter, too: by becoming relevant to where we are and what we re doing in the physical world (75%). When asked to develop a new way of interacting with stories, 52% of participants treated the real world as another platform, incorporating networked real-world objects, augmented reality, 3D projected environments, and other technologies that bridge the divide between digital and physical. Younger participants (24 and under) were significantly more likely than their older counterparts (35+) to desire content integration with the real world, ranging from location-aware games to discovering new products. Conclusion: out of the screen, into my world! As the Web becomes more interactive and in real-time, audiences want increased control over their individual content experiences. 79% envisioned interactions that would allow them to alter a storyline, by influencing or becoming a character themselves (56%) or by manipulating plot events directly (37%). Audiences desire instant access to information that deepens their experiences of a narrative, such as added historical or cultural context for a story s setting (e.g., how did people actually live back then? ). So the perfect story would meet basic information needs. Only 12% prefer completely passive media experiences, while more than half crave a lot of interactivity when it comes to making plot decisions, interacting with or influencing characters, and so on. Audiences want their actions in the physical world to impact the larger narrative. 9

10 For example: contribute to battle efforts against another side by having your smartphone register when you re near a particular location or another participating fan, or by importing an object into the storyworld by scanning a real version of it with your phone. Conclusion: converse with the real world! And be long-running! Forget flings; today s audiences want to commit to long-term media relationships. To conclude, the content marketers need to embrace new strategies and techniques or will see their audiences begin to look elsewhere for brands, products and services that interact with them more effectively. XReferences Lehu, Jean-Marc, 2006; La publicité est dans le film, Editions d organisation, Paris. Lipovetsky, Gilles, Serroy, Jean, 2007 ( 2008 trad.); Ecranul global, Polirom, Iaşi. Olins, Wallz, 2006 (trad.); Despre brand, comunicare.ro, Bucureşti. Preda, Sorin, 2011; Introducere în creativitatea publicitară, Polirom, Iaşi. Nagy, Bryan, February 2013, Why we Need to Re-Evaluate Social Media, ***Four Online Advertising Trends to Watch in 2013, *** Microsoft Advertising, IPSOS and BBDO Worldwide, Meet the Screens, festival

11 FEIMU, ONE OF CHINA'S GREATEST DIRECTORS LEGACY -BETWEEN POLITICS AND AESTHETICS- EMA A. STOIAN *, MSc c. Beijing Film Academy China The * left-wing cinema movement is usually regarded as a golden age in Chinese film history, with a considerable number of valuable works. For its special historical background, the relation between politics and aesthetics in these films has been widely discussed, along the years. Fei Mu, as the leading figure of left-wing cinema movement in 1930s, was a little-known name in the West, but on the evidence of even a few films, it was clear that he was one of the finest working anywhere during the 1930s and 1940s (Pang, Laikwan: 2002). Born in Shanghai, Fei Mu was considered by many to be one of the major film directors, prior to the communist revolution in Known for his artistic style and costume dramas, Fei made his first film, Night in the City 城 市 之 夜 at the young age of 27, receiving both critical and popular acclaim. Continuing to make films with Lianhua, Fei Mu directed films throughout the 1930s and became a major talent in the industry, with 1934`s A sea of Fragrant Snow 香 雪 海 and Life 人 生. His first worldwide acknowledgement came along with his 1935 s new production called Song of China 天 倫, which was the first full-length Chinese feature film to have general release in the US ("Song of China, aka Filial Piety (Tianlun)". UCSD Chinese * Ema A. Stoian ( ) is currently undergoing her Master Studies in Film Directing at Beijing Film Academy China. In 2009, she has graduated from Media University Bucharest, with a Bachelor Degree in Arts- Film and TV Directing while in 2010 she graduated the National College of Defense, the National School of Political and Administrative Studies and a Masters in Communication and PR. President of the Romanian League of Students, China Branch (LSRS China) since 2010, she has dedicated her activity to promoting Romanian cultural and educational values in China. She is best known for the short films Where do silent thoughts go?, The Dark Sun and Butterflies. Cinema Web-Based Learning Center Retrieved ). The movie was also the first, in a long and blooming career of FeiMu`s films, dedicated to a return to traditional morality, bringing him in line with China`s New Life Movement. The directors at that time had a tendency to use understated and realistic filmmaking methods like everyday settings, naturalistic performances, relevant social themes, etc. in order to distance themselves from what they thought of as the decadence of the society s elite and to get closer to the truth of real lives. With Japan invading Manchuria in 1931, most of the filmmakers opposed the invasion, also thanks to Chang Kai Shek s Nationalist reaction to it. When a bloody civil war broke out between the Communists and their bitter Nationalist rivals, the realism of the 1930s films started showing an increased interest in the underclass and a compassion for ordinary people. FeiMu next movies incorporated that in his own film s aesthetics. Co-directed with Luo Mingyou, the theme of 天 倫 was filial piety in the Confucian tradition. The story embodied the Confucian principle of family and honor, using a simple plot which followed a linear continuity in the sequence of actions in time and space: To fulfill his father`s deathbed wish, a businessman moved his extended family from the city to the countryside, and opened a school for poor children and a sanctuary for childless elders. But his adult children missed the urban life and rebelled. The containment of the form was found in the montage of the classical film leaving nothing without resolution and thus permitting FeiMu to control its meaning. Therefore, it gave the spectators a more accurate understanding of the author s interpretation, leaving them with a clear and obvious opinion about the movie s artistically 11

12 meaning: the drama of fast changing society and the gap between the generations, that can only be overcome through the fundamental values of the confucianist philosophy applied to the society of that time. All Fei Mu films showed the variety and flexibility of his craft. Onstage, Backstage was shot in 1936 and depicted a drama of theatre life, its fluid figure movement in depth recalling the style and atmosphere in Renoir`s paintings. Very different was the expressionistic allegory Nightmares in Spring Chamber (1937), an episode in the portmanteau film called Lianhua Symphony. With Japanese invasion increasing, National Defense Films ( 囯 防 電 影 ) appearing, the glorificiation of traditional values played more and more an important part in FeiMu`s stories. 1936's Blood on Wolf Mountain ( 狼 山 喋 血 記 ), often seen as an allegory on the war with Japan (Time Magazine: 1977). was part of the New Life Movement. In 1936 the Lianhua Film Company ( Company) got together and made a goal of making a film that would promote China and still have it pass the censor boards. During this time, the Japanese had started to take a hold on Shanghai and the film industry. Fei Mu s new movie Blood on Wolf Mountain tackled the story of a small village that was repeatedly attacked by local wolves. The story of Blood on Wolf Mountain is simple and it can be told in two lines or less. But besides the simple telling of a story, it is the way the story is told and the deeper meaning behind it that gives it so much value. Thus are identified three aspects of narrative: causality, time and space. The characters are identified as the agents of cause and effects. Within the community there were two factions: the old generation that said the more one fights the wolves the more they attack you, and the other faction that said the only way to get rid of the wolves was to kill as many as possible, before they take over the whole land. By creating and reacting to events, characters play roles within the film's formal system. In a FeiMu s film, characters are constructed beings written with the connotations about the Japanese that were slowly making their way into China. The narrative relies on the stability of these traits to ensure its continuity. The time and space of the narrative are subjected to the logic of the action. The events are organized in the chronological order offering the clearest understanding of their causality. Before the film went out, they labeled it with a much milder name of Brave Hunters, so that the film could pass through the Censor Board. Even though the Chinese officials could sense that the wolves represented the Japanese, decided not to say anything until they saw the reaction of the Japanese officials. Fortunately, the Japanese officials either didn`t notice or didn`t think that the wolves in the film represented the Japanese and their threat to China and allowed the film to pass. In 1937 the Sino-Japanese war had already broke out and in November of that year, Shanghai was occupied as an isolated island. In December, Nanjing the capital city of Guomindang government was captured and Wang Jingwei established the puppet regime. Under such a circumstance, explicitly patriotic films were dangerous, and so a tendency to displacement by historical allegory in critical work was generated. The making and screening of Fei Mu s next films were undertaken in such a harsh environment. Martyrs of the Northern Front 北 戰 場 精 忠 錄 Gold-Plated City 鍍 金 的, also known as the Gilded City, Murder in the Oratory 斬 經 堂, were all films that took the structure of the traditional Chinese opera. Nightmares in Spring Chamber 夢 斷 春 閨, was part of an Episode in Lianhua Symphony and it was directed and written by both FeiMy and Chusheng Cai in 1937, featuring Qing Jiang in the main role. This explicitly showed how critical the situation was and how the most representative artists and filmmakers felt the urge to resist on all fronts against the Japanese hegemony. Confucius was urgently made by FeiMu in , as a patriotic propaganda to serve the people during the war, manifesting the director's worries and anxieties about the future of the nation under such a disaster and the paradoxical attitude of his generation toward Chinese traditional culture. Fei Mu really believed that the best way to resist such difficult times was by reestablishing the traditional human and 12

13 cultural values. Given that Confucius was the most influential sage and philosopher of Chinese civilization, the plot of FeiMu s movie dramatizes the ineffectuality of the sage s ideals of civic virtue by showing how power players of his era ignored or undercut his teachings. Scenes from Confucius life alternate with scenes of political and military strategy, as warlords and statesmen debate tactics and, not incidentally, calculate how to eliminate Confucius. As Confucius migrated across China, he was unable to halt the continuous warfare among various factions. His disciples left or died. Just before his death he had only his grandson to care for him. A great educator, thinker, and philosopher, Fei Mu wrote in an essay, Confucius was doomed a victim of the politics of his time. (1998) The style of cinematic expression is quite different from today s historical epic spectacle and the Hollywood films with historical subject in 1930s. The movie is more like an action by action theatrical staging film according to the historical events. Some of the fragments show bits of violence in the wars, but the film as a whole relies on dialogue. Although some scenes unfold in natural exteriors, Fei Mu often employs theatrical tableaus, completed with painted landscapes, where occasionally the actors cast shadows on the backdrops. The cutting is often axial, simply enlarging a chunk of space as actors declaim their dialogue. The nearly square Movietone frame enhances the symmetry of the compositions, which often featured a window or some other aperture. Between sequences, the intertitles of quotations from different historical document were inserted, to supplement the background information and enforce the narrative. However, the movie differs from Fei Mu s fluid poetic realism in Spring in the Small Town, using an alienate effect of the historical sphere to treat the rigid style of the film as a deliberate artistic choice: it was not a dramatic representation, but to create a sense of of the pastness distancing from us. 3. The second golden age and FeiMu s last tribute paid to China s film legacy Fei remained active in this so-called "Second Golden Age" and also directed 1941 s Children of the World 世 界 兒 女 made in collaboration with the Austrian director-couple Jacob and Luise Fleck. It was the only collaboration between Chinese and foreign film artists prior to the foundation of the People's Republic of China, and premiered on 4 October 1941 in the Yindu Theatre in Shanghai. Afterwards, FeiMu continues his series of patriotic and Beijing opera style films with The Beauty 國 色 天 香, Songs of Ancient China 古 中 國 之 歌, 1946 s The Magnificent Country, 1948 s The Little Cowheard 小 放 牛 and China's first color film Remorse at Death (1948), which incorporated Beijing Opera and starred Mei Lanfang (Zhang Yingjin: 2004, p. 101). Meanwhile, companies like the Wenhua Film Company ("Culture Films"), moved away from the leftist tradition and explored the evolution and development of other dramatic genres. Wenhua's romantic drama Spring in a Small Town (1948), a film by director Fei Mu shortly prior to the revolution, is often regarded by Chinese film critics as one of the most important films in the history of Chinese cinema, with it being named by the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2004 as the greatest Chinese-language film ever made. 1* Spring In a Small Town is a lyrical depiction of the intense psychological rivalry between two friends for the love of one woman. Directed by Fei Mu and based on a short story by Li Tianji, the film dramatizes the emotional entanglement of four people conveying an intense eroticism that is powerful and haunting. The result is a world of stasis and intimacy that bears the physicalness of the natural world. The aesthetics of the film has an elegance and intimacy that cannot be found in any of its remakes. Honesty and simplicity arising from honoring the complexity of human-ness are what set Fei Mu` s film apart. The movie depicts the essence of love itself, so different from any western style, so close to the chinese society, yet so universal! A chinese love story during the war, that is so well constructed and so clear about all the values and principles of that time. But Spring 1 "Welcome to the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards". 24th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards. Retrieved

14 in a Small town is also about the gravitas of war. The texture of the film is made of parts that are hierarchically organised according to their relevance to the narrative. By depicting events from YuWen`s point of view and adding a poetic voiceover, Fei Mu`s film brings its viewers much closer to the characters. The film is an example of narrative that can rely on the characters traits to play a causal role to further the action, because the characters have fixed traits. However, the undecidability of the character personality shapes the narrative: endlessly revolving around a blind spot. The principles of analysis do not stand apart from each other: they are necessarily interlocked. The narrative is not just a genre in FeiMu s possible cinematic expressions, it is the dominant form of the medium. Spring is one of the most beautiful of all films, with a dreamlike structure because the things of beauty, sensuality, love, the natural world are more akin to hints than expressions. The treatment of light and darkness, clearness and unclearness easily transposes to the different types of relationships built up in the story. This leads to the consideration of the realistic, expressionist and moralistic content of light and darkness in depicting the complicated feelings of each of the characters involved. They all have their own hopes, desires and unexpressed feelings. It s like a continuous feeling of melancholy. A breeze, spring sunshine, plants, the moon, water, fire are almost unnoticeably present, as are glimmering lights in an interior stillness. And all this bears more weight because of the period between war and change, which seemed to create a profounder environment. One in which the destruction of towns and persons was experienced in say the town`s depopulation or the mild husband`s bitterness and self-defeat. Yes, buildings and lives were equally vulnerable in Fei Mu`s somewhat inconsolable world. Finally, the film displays strong degrees of closure at the end. Leaving no loose ends unresolved, the film seeks to end its causal chains with a final effect. We learn the fate of each character, the answer to each mystery, and the outcome of each conflict. The movie Spring in a Small Town did not receive immediate critical acclaim when it was released and Feimu was labeled rightist. Ironically, it was precisely its artistic quality and apparent lack of "political grounding" that led to its labeling by the Communists as rightist or reactionary, and the film was quickly forgotten by those on the mainland following the Communist victory in China in However, the movie is an extraordinary work, anticipating Antonioni in its slow unfolding of an erotic situation, treated with a mixture of sympathy and austerity. It also reminds us of the later French new wave movie: Truffaut`s Femme d`a cote which is of the similar topic. The Japanese invasion of China, in particular their occupation of Shanghai, ended this golden run in Chinese cinema. All production companies except Xinhua closed shop, and many of the filmmakers fled Shanghai, relocating in Hong Kong, Communist and Nationalist-controlled regions, and elsewhere. Following the Communist revolution in 1949, Fei Mu fled to Hong Kong too, where he founded along with many other artists and intellectuals the Longma Film Company ("Dragon-Horse Films") with Zhu Shilin and Fei Luyi and produced (under the Longma name) Zhu Shilin's The Flower Girl (1951). But he would never direct any other films again. He dies in 1951 in Hong Kong, at the age of 45, without having the chance to witness the true recognition of his entire life s work. Following his death, Fei Mu and his work fell into obscurity, as much of his filmography was forgotten or ignored on the Mainland, rejected by leftist critics as indicative of rightist ideologies (Li, Cheukto: 2000). However, with the China Film Archive's re-opening after the Cultural Revolution, a new print was made from the original negative, allowing Spring of the Small Town to find a new and admiring audience and to influence an entire new generation of filmmakers. Now many critics consider it the greatest Chinese film ever made, and nobody can argue with that! 4. Conclusion Only by going through the historical background of those times, could we judge the achievement of what was then considered to be a filmmaker unsuitable for those times 14

15 and see it with the nowadays perception in order answer the question. But to approach the question of the value in FeiMu s art systematically, one ought to ask: for whom? For the artist? For the audience? For the Chinese society back then, for the society at large, and/or for individuals beyond the audience? Is his "value" of art different in each of these different contexts? Many goals have been argued for art, and aestheticians often argue that some goal or another is superior in some way. We must sweep and clean. Affirm the cleanliness of the individual after the state of madness, aggressive complete madness of a world abandoned to the hands of bandits. (Tristan Tzara, Sept Manifestes Dada ) claimed the Romanian Dadaist Tristan Tzara. If we take the romanian Dadaist Tristan Tzara s perspective on the function of art, then FeiMu s entire life s work has been entirely dedicated to that, to the superior spiritual and political goals of that time, serving his own country and fighting with his own artistic instruments against the horrors of the war. Fei Mu`s universalism came from the feeling of love for what he was, where he came from and what he could bring to China and the world. Although he embraced different types of European cinemas, that only brought him closer to his own chinese essence and roots. Even though many people misjudged his work and interpreted it as being inappropriate for the chinese society, all his movies expressed a deep faith in the chinese tradition, thought and spirit, leaving an important legacy to the entire world s cinema history. FeiMu made you empathize with him, rather than ask you to recognize the feelings and relations he implied. He knew how to go deep to the essence of culture and history, and express it just how it was beautiful and simple, against all the odds! And this was the hardest thing to do, and at the same time the biggest praise one could ever bring to his culture and to his own country. FeiMu never meant anything else but to express his own feelings about what s right and true in life. He had it inside him and it was there already, he just treated it with so much care and sensitivity, because for him anything that was from his past was glorious and saint. Maybe leaving the country was what it took to realize that what he was looking for, had been there already. Maybe he got the chance to miss it so much and to realize, above all, that the most important thing for him was to be back to his country again. All his movies unveil the deepest of FeiMu- the man who cherished his traditions, his principles, the country and the culture he was born in. Because whatever describes best the essence of one s culture, lays in the way we love. And FeiMu loved film, he loved China, and he loved everything that came along with it. I still can t figure out what his secret was, and from what I have read and heard nobody ever did. But maybe understanding FeiMu is just like understanding FeiMu`s movies- we should just feel him, and not try to understand and analyze him. References 1. Fei Mu 費 穆. Kongzi jiqi shidai 孔 子 及 其 時 代 (Confucius: His Life and Times), in Wong Ain-ling(ed) 2. 黃 愛 玲 編, Fei Mu: shiren daoyan 費 穆 : 詩 人 導 演 (Fei Mu, Poet Director), Hong Kong: xianggang yingpingren xiehui, 1998 (originally published in the special brochure of Confucius 孔 夫 子 影 片 特 刊, 1940) 3. Fei Mu 費 穆. Da Fangdian Ying Weimin de qiwang yu kongfuzi 答 方 典 應 衛 民 的 期 望 於 孔 夫 子 (Response to Fang Dian and Ying Weimin), in Wong Ain-ling(ed) 黃 愛 玲 編, Fei Mu: shiren daoyan 費 穆 : 詩 人 導 演 (Fei Mu, Poet Director), Hong Kong: xianggang yingpingren xiehui, 1998 (originally published in the special brochure of Confucius 孔 夫 子 影 片 特 刊, 1940) 4. Pang, Laikwan (2002), Building a New China in Cinema: The Chinese Left-Wing Cinema Movement, , Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., ISBN X 5. "A Blue Apple in a City for Sale". Time Magazine Retrieved Zhang Yingjin. (2004) Chinese National Cinema, (London: Routledge Press. 7. Li, Cheuk-to (2000), "Spring in a Small Town: Mastery and Restraint", Cinemaya Artificial-Eye.com staff. "Then and Now: Two Versions of Springtime in a Small Town". Artificial-Eye.com. Archived from the originalon Retrieved

16 PHONE BOOTH: ACOUSMÊTRE, DE-ACOUSMATIZATION, AND THE VISIBLE ACOUSMÊTRE ILEANA IACOBESCU*, MSc c. University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom Abstract: The present study is about the filmic acoustical being, or acousmêtre, its specificity to the cinematic medium, its characteristics gained through the use of sound, and the influence it has over the film s characters and narrative. This paper focuses primarily on the notion of de-acousmatization, as theorized by Michel Chion, and whether or not the acousmêtre loses its powers upon entering the space of the screen. For this purpose, I shall introduce to this discussion the 2002 film Phone Booth (Dir. Joel Schumacher), which presents an acoustical being as main character. Keywords: acousmêtre, de-acousmatization, visible acousmêtre, film sound, Phone Booth Written * by Larry Cohen and starring Colin Farrell (Stu), Kiefer Sutherland (The Caller), and Forest Whitaker (police Captain Ramey), most of the mystery/thriller s action unfolds inside and around a public phone booth. Stu receives a call from an unknown man, who systematically psychologically tortures him, preventing him from leaving the booth by threatening his life and that of those around him. Paul Curtis is supervising sound editor, and the original music is by Harry Gregson-Williams. So who or what is an acousmêtre, how does it become deacousmatized, and what role does it play in the film? Firstly, we notice the terminology, as used by Chion in French: he cites Pierre Schaeffer on the term acousmatic, implying a sound that is heard without its cause or source being seen ; to this, Chion adds être, which translates to being (1999: p.18). So acousmêtre would literally mean acoustic being. An unseen acoustic entity could be anything from a voice heard on the radio, or on the telephone, or even inside a theater, but what distinguishes the acousmêtre from these is that it is specific to sound film. A voice on * Ileana Iacobescu is an MSc candidate in Film Studies at the University of Edinburgh, UK. She has been awarded an M.A. in Audiovisual Communication from the National School of Political Science and Public Administration in Bucharest, Romania, for a thesis with the title Spaţiul Urban în Noul Val Românesc, in In 2010, she has received a B.A. in Communication and Public Relations for the thesis Stereotipuri în Serialul Român de Televiziune, also from the NSPAS. Articles/Books: Urban Space in the Romanian New Wave, in Cinematographic Art & Documentation. Journal of Cinematographic Studies, Nr. 6(10)/2012, Victor Publishing House, 2012, pp [email protected] the radio does not benefit from the flexibility to be shown or partially shown, because the medium only allows the transmission of sound. Similarly, we cannot talk about an acousmêtre in the context of silent film, since the transmission of sound (specifically, the human voice) in synchronization with the image is not yet available. Hence, we can only discuss the acousmêtre in the context of sound film, where it is defined in terms of diegetic sound. Furthermore, the acousmatic voice manifests itself within the same timeframe as the diegesis. As Buhler & Neumeyer note, narration is necessarily after the fact, even when the voice of the narrator is also that of a character in the diegesis (2010: p. 88). Secondly, one must note the distinction between an off-screen voice, a voice-over, and an acousmatic being. As the term suggests, an off-screen voice is defined as one who belongs to a character who does not appear (visually) on the screen (Metz 2004: p.367) This may be a character involved in the diegesis, who has already been visualized or established in context, but is temporarily not included in the film frame. As Mary Ann Doane explains, He/she is "just over there," 'just beyond the frameline," in a space which "exists" but which the camera does not choose to show (1980: p. 37). A voice-over is also off-screen, in the sense that it is not shown within the frame, the difference being that it does not belong to the narrative space. The voice-over could come from a narrator who is not a character within the story, but merely an observer, or an artifice employed to efficiently explain certain events or emotions within the frame, which might otherwise raise problems of 16

17 representation. For example, the voice of a male narrator offers statistical information about mobile phone usage in New York, in the first minutes of Phone Booth. This is the narrator s only contribution in the film, and could have been substituted by intertitles or character dialogue, which might have disrupted the filmic illusion, or required an additional set-up or story, respectively. A classic example of voice-over is the narrator of a documentary film, or a newsreel. Before analyzing the presence of the acousmêtre in this film, I shall briefly address the notion s importance within the wider context of (sound) film theory. In 1982, Chion theorized the notion of the acousmêtre, a disembodied voice that affects the visual component, yet remains a primarily aural entity, thus bringing sound to the centre of a theoretical pursuit without wholly separating it from image. Kristi McKim writes (2002): The acousmêtre does not have as its unspoken premise a decision to ignore the image; rather, the hyper-presence of voice correlating with an absence of image necessitates a simultaneous seeing-hearing that originates with sound. Chion later revisits his definition of the acousmêtre in light of the changing cinematic apparatus and development of new surround sound technology, extending it to visible acousmatic beings. With increase in auditory spatialisation and the possibility for the viewers to locate the voice behind or around them, in a way previously impossible with monophonic and even stereo sound, visible bodies now gain the powers associated with the acousmêtre. As Randolph Jordan points out, this quality of the acousmêtre hiding behind the speaking body is the case with ALL speaking figures in the cinema because the human voice has no organ. Although the acousmêtre hiding behind the image of the average film character does not share the powers associated with its earlier cousin, it does point the way towards a new way of thinking about the speaking body in the cinema (2009: p.58). I agree with this statement and add that the introduction of, and maintained interest towards this phantom character has contributed to the understanding and theorizing of sound-image as a whole, rather than an image to which sound is subordinate. I also feel it is important to mention the mute, which is similar to the acousmêtre in the sense that it can only be discussed in the context of sound film, but acts by withholding the voice, rather than the image of its source. But what are the powers of the acousmêtre, and how do they diminish or disappear when its body, or the source of its voice, becomes visible? I suggest that the super-power of the acousmatic being is its contribution to the narrative, through its ability to create tension, suspense, mystery etc. by concealing its corporeal identity, or rather, by postponing its revelation. An entire image, an entire story, an entire film can hang on the epiphany of the acousmêtre. Everything can boil down to a quest to bring the acousmêtre into the light (Chion 199: p.23). This is the case with Phone Booth. Stu calls his would-be mistress from a public phone booth, so as not to be discovered by his wife. He barely ends his call that the phone starts to ring. He picks up without hesitation. A male voice, coming from all channels, very close to the microphone, is heard saying: Isn t it funny? You hear a phone ring, and it could be anybody. But a ringing phone has to be answered. After these first lines, one might think we are dealing with a narrator, similar to the one we heard minutes before. Although this voice is different from the previous one, we are given no indication that the person speaking would be involved in the diegesis, and assume that we are hearing from an observer situated outside the borders of the frame. Stu is listening attentively to the receiver, but we do not hear any voice that sounds like it would be coming from it. We expect a specific texture, low-quality, where medium-high frequencies predominate, perhaps some distortion, positioned in the mix in such a way as to appear far away. At this point, given the previous fragment containing voice-over narration, and the attributes of the male voice being heard, one would assume that these words are meant to introduce Stu s interlocutor, or the topic of their discussion. What!? the protagonist asks, as the viewer anticipates they are about to receive the expected information. However, this anticipation is not gratified, as we hear the off-screen voice say: I hope you realize how you ve hurt my feelings. Who the f- is 17

18 this?! Stu promptly replies, in conformity with the thoughts of the viewer. It is on this moment that we are presented with the acousmêtre, and realize that it is the powerful, authoritative male voice that is at the other end of the phone line. It is also at this moment that we are faced with the danger of breaking from the filmic illusion the viewer realizes that the voice does not sound like it is coming from the phone. Mary Ann Doane, and later Chion, talk about the disruption of the filmic illusion when de-acousmatization occurs (of course, only Chion employs this specific term). Upon seeing the voice as coming from a character s lips, and realizing that the voice-over is actually superimposed onto the image in post-production, and does not organically originate from that source, Doane (1980: p 37) suggests that the spectator becomes aware of the cinematic apparatus. We find a similar, yet reversed situation in the mentioned scene, in the sense that the viewer has previously accepted the cinematic apparatus, and the disruption is caused by the denial of synchronized sound-image and known filmic conventions. Don t you dare leave the phone booth, The Caller s voice orders Stu, implying that this is not a prank, but a very serious call. For the viewer, this translates to: you must accept this plot point of the film as reality. Wrong number, pal, Stu replies, as the viewer might think: I am not accepting this, it is just a film, it is not real. The caller then mentions the perfectly delicious pizza which a man tried to deliver to Stu in the phone booth moments earlier, as it was meant to keep your strength up for what s coming next. Even though implausible, the pizza, or plot point, is part of something extraordinary that is about to happen, as The Caller begins to intrigue Stu, and draw the audience s attention, by establishing that he has control, knowing both the past and the future. As Stu re-enters the phone booth, and the spectator begins to accept the filmic reality again, it is revealed that The Caller is omnipresent, has the power of panopticism, omniscience, and omnipotence. These are the four powers of the acousmêtre, as Chion (1999: pp ) defines them. Omnipresence is explained by the fact that the voice comes from everywhere and nowhere. Radio, or in this case, the telephone, is a vehicle of this ubiquity. However, given the attributes and texture of the voice, we can consider it almost prophetic or God-like. The caller sees all: what Stu is wearing, what hand gestures he is making, what goes on around the phone booth. It is soon revealed that the acousmêtre s panopticism comes in the form of a highly magnified telescopic image, provided by the state of the art tactical scope mounted on his rifle. The Caller also appears to be omniscient, as he knows Stu s name, the phone number of his female friend, his occupation, home address, his wife s phone number, and even the address and phone number of her workplace. Like the previous powers, the Caller s omniscience is also due to technology, specifically a listening device installed in the toll phone. The acousmêtre s omnipotence is completed by one more piece of equipment, a sniper rifle. The caller is hidden behind one of hundreds of windows, has access to all information, past and future, sees everything that goes on at street level, and is holding a powerful gun, which he loads from time to time, making a distinct sound. All of these attributes, but especially the mechanical sound of the gun, confirm that the situation is serious, and that Stu must conform, for he is at the mercy of this God-like character. It is interesting to note that the mentioned sound effects add to the power of the acousmatic voice, together with non-diegetic music that is discretely employed to emphasize suspense. Given the capacities to see and know all, and kill without consequence, I would name The Caller an acous-maître (fr. master), as he controls and corrects Stu s every action. Another interesting aural aspect that I would like to note is the use of the megaphone. After The Caller shoots a man that was trying to remove Stu from the booth in order to use the telephone. The police arrive at the scene, and based on witnesses declarations, believe that it is Stu who was the shooter. Captain Ramey initiates negotiations with Stu, who is instructed by The Caller to remain in the phone booth and refuse cooperation with the authorities, at the risk of his, or by-standers lives. Ramey maintains a distance from the phone booth, and uses a loud speaker to communicate with Stu. It is a strong contrast with the method of 18

19 communication employed by The Caller, in terms of representation and effect. We have already discussed the characteristics and authority of the acousmêtre s voice, which has complete power over Stu. Captain Ramey s voice, on the other hand, has very little authority when filtered through the amplifying device. Its texture is as expected, a low-quality, distorted, unnatural sound. It seems almost ridiculous that Ramey s voice goes through so much strain to reach Stu, who is just a short distance away, while The Caller s voice is so loud, clear, and powerful, although situated at a much bigger, unknown distance. As the plot unfolds, the acousmêtre s powers are constantly re-confirmed, and emphasized by invisibility: the phone signal used is so well coded, hidden, that the police technicians arrived at the scene cannot access the network and establish its source. After following another lead, the police finally discover the source of the signal a hotel room - and move in for The Caller s apprehension. The viewer is now expecting to see the mysterious Caller, and a deacousmatization is anticipated to reveal the character s body, but also the cinematic apparatus. Indeed, an apparatus is shown the technical equipment used for concealing the signal. A body is also shown, lying lifeless in a pool of blood. This is identified as that of the pizza delivery man from earlier, and for a brief moment, the de-acousmatization is complete: loss of all powers, even life, and exposure of part of the cinematic apparatus. Everyone that had gathered in the street witnesses it: people, reporters, and shop window TV-displays, which play back the events as news footage. However, it is only moments later that Stu is administered a sedative in an ambulance, and in his impaired visual state, finds himself face-toface with the real Caller. Camera movements and focus mirror Stu s vision, as he catches blurry, shaky, doubled glimpses of the acousmêtre s face, and his lips synchronously articulating his voice. The aural quality of the acousmêtre is altered, becoming slightly closer to Stu s point of view, more anchored on streetlevel. However, it acquires a dream-like quality, determined by reverb and delay effects, to match the visual ones. The Caller s last words to Stu, before disappearing, unmasked and unaccountable, are an incentive for his newfound honesty to last: Because if it doesn t, you ll be hearing from me. We note that the threat is, once again, that of the voice to be heard, but not seen. Through this promise, the acousmêtre s powers are reinstated, even though he is now partially visible. As The Caller walks away from the ambulance, past the phone booth, unnoticed by police officers and other characters present, we hear his first words again. The voice is not synchronized to his lips, and seems to come from all the channels once more. Isn t it funny? You hear a phone ring, and it could be anybody. But a ringing phone has to be answered, doesn t it? Doesn t it? The latter sentence is whispered, rather than spoken, faded away. Unlike the first time we hear this speech, it is accompanied by music, piano and strings, which gets abruptly interrupted by the ringing of a phone. The ringing sound is mixed in coordination with the voice, so that it does not appear to be coming from the telephone we see in the frame, but from another, distant one. The ringing is sustained for a few seconds, allowing time for meditation: perhaps if Stu hadn t answered the phone, none of the events shown would have unfolded. However, it becomes evident that the true purpose of this repetition is to suggest that the acousmêtre is not only following Stu, but has moved on to discipline another person, as the phone is picked up, and we hear a man saying: Hello? In closing, I would like to insist upon the importance of the acousmatic presence to the narrative. As Chion has stated, an acousmêtre is powerful and intriguing enough to sustain the plot of the film, but this does not mean that it undermines other characters and the relationships between them. In Phone Booth, the acousmêtre provides the unusual situation necessary for the evolution of the plot and characters. Its powers and mysterious presence creates, in my opinion, a more intense and lasting impression on the thriller film viewer, than an embodied, fully visible antagonist would. The deacousmatization and reappearance as visual acousmêtre provide a semi-resolution and plot twist. I would also add that they offer the opportunity and pretext for a sequel, should the filmmakers and audience desire one. 19

20 References Buhler, James. Neumeyer, David. Deemer, Rob (eds.) (2010). Hearing the Movies: Music and Sound in Film History, New York: Oxford University Press Chion, Michel (1999[1982]). The Voice in Cinema, Claudia Gorbman (trans.) New York: Columbia University Press Doane, Mary Ann (1980). The Voice in Cinema: Articulation of Body and Space. in Yale French Studies. 60. Cinema/Sound, pp Jordan, Randolph (2009). The Visible Acousmêtre. Voice, Body and Space Across the Two Versions of Donnie Darko. Music, Sound and the Moving Image Spring, pp McKim, Kristi (2002). Impassioned Aesthetics. Seeing Sound and Hearing Images in Michel Chion's Audio-Vision. in Film Philosophy March Mwtz, Christian (2004). Aural Objects. in Mast & Cohen (eds.). Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. New York: Oxford University Press, pp Phone Booth (2002). Fox 2000 Pictures. Dir. Joel Schumacher. Written by Larry Cohen. Colin Farrell, Kiefer Sutherland, Forest Whitaker

21 LE FILM LA 25 EME HEURE COMME «ACTE DE RUPTURE IDENTITAIRE» (THE 25TH HOUR MOVIE AS AN ACT OF IDENTITY RUPTURE ) Lecturer Gabriela ILIUŢĂ *, Ph.D c Spiru Haret University, Bucharest Abstract: The French sociologist Daniel Calin defined the act of identity rupture as the fundamental moment of leaving, the decision of leaving emigrants take. All the works of Constantin Virgil Gheorghiu, the Romanian writer exiled in Paris, evoke, reconstruct and deconstruct this fundamental act of leaving the native land and giving up to the primary identity. It seems that Gheorghiu s work had a tragic destiny because, in 1967, when it was released Henri Verneuil s movie The 25th Hour, adapted from the famous novel of the Romanian author, the Communist authorities did not allow the movie to be shot in Romania. Thus, the act of identity rupture can be observed at differences level, sometimes emphasized by the visions of writers and directors, the space representing the factor that orientates and changes the primary vision. Keywords: narratology, identity, space, focalization, vision. Résumé: Le sociologue français Daniel Calin définissait l «acte de la rupture identitaire» (Calin : 2003, pp ) comme l acte fondamental du moment du départ, de la décision de départ du migrant de son pays. Toute l œuvre de l écrivain roumain exilé à Paris, Constantin Virgil Gheorghiu, décrit, reconstruit et déconstruit cet acte fondamental de l abandon de la terre natale et de la renonciation à l identité primaire. Il semble pourtant qu un destin tragique ait poursuivi son œuvre car en 1967 apparaissait le film d Henri Verneuil, La 25 ème Heure, inspiré du célèbre roman de l écrivain roumain, mais les autorités communistes de l époque n avaient pas permis le tournage du film en Roumanie. Nous avons ainsi constaté la présence de l «acte de la rupture identitaire» même au niveau des différences, parfois significatives, entre la vision de l écrivain et celle du réalisateur, l espace étant le facteur transformateur de la vision primaire. Mots-clés: narratologie, identité, espace, focalisation, vision. * Gabriela Iliuţă (PhD Student, University Ovidius, Constanţa) is Lecturer of French to the Spiru Haret University, Bucarest, [email protected] Articles/books: 4, 3, 2...start au film roumain sur la scène du monde, "Caietele Echinox", Numéro spécial "Les cultures des Balkans", Efstratia Oktapoda (dir.), Vol. 18/2010 Université 'Babes-Bolyai', Cluj-Napoca, (Romania), pp , CNCSIS, ERIH (European Research Index dor the Humanities et CEEOL (Central and Eastern European Online Library), ISSN X (Romania), ISBN (France) ; Iliuţă Gabriela, L Alien(é) des Cités à comparaître de Karim AMELLAL ou Comment je suis devenu terroriste, in Najib Redouane et Yvette Bénayoun- Szmidt, Où en est la littérature «beur»?, Autour des Écrivains maghrébins, L Harmattan, Paris, 2012, p , ISBN: ; Juliette Aderca, Virgil Tănase in Ecrivains roumains d expression française de Macedonski à Visnec, Editura Fundatiei Romania de Mâine, Bucureşti, 2013, 500 p., ISBN ; pp.23-27, ; Caro Memmo, mon cher frère. Seduzioni epistolari di una giovane angloveneziana in viaggio per l Europa nel tempo di Casanova. L inedito carteggio di Giustiniana Wynne ad Andrea Memmo ( ) a cura di Nancy Isenberg in Journal of Research in Gender Studies, no. 2(2), 2012, ISSN: , BDI Journal: 21

22 Mise en contexte L analyse narratologique pourrait être élargie du texte au film et, de ce point de vue, la narratologie des films apparaît comme un domaine très riche, la narration visuelle étant ainsi subordonnée à celle littéraire. Les textes et le film ont comme point commun le concept de focalisation qui «se rapporte au récit représenté et le concept de narrateur repose sur sa représentation, fonctionnant comme une perspective qui contrôle les événements (ou la fable)» (Bal : 2008, p. 167) i. Selon Mieke Bal, les images, qui peuvent être analysées comme narration, contiennent des éléments de «narratologie visuelle» (Bal : 2008, p. 167). Le cinéma français des années 60 a eu des productions extrêmement appréciées, avec l élection de René Clair à l Académie française, lorsque le septième art s est enrichi des chefs-d œuvre lyriques et humoristiques: Un Chapeau de paille d Italie, Le Million, À nous la liberté, Fantôme à vendre, Le silence est d or. C est dans ce contexte qu apparaissait en 1967 le film La 25 ème Heure, inspiré du célèbre roman de Constantin Virgil Gheorghiu. Le film a été produit par Carlo Ponti dans les studios Metro Goldwin Mayer et la distribution comprenait de grands noms du cinéma: Michael Redgrave, Virna Lissi, Antony Quinn, Serge Reggiani. Amaury D Esneval, le biographe de Constantin Virgil Gheorghiu, accueillait avec enthousiasme l apparition de ce film, louant en particulier son réalisateur: «Le réalisateur en est un cinéaste de talent, Henri Verneuil. Ce Français, d origine arménienne, partage avec Virgil Gheorghiu de nombreux traits de sensibilité. Tous deux sont nés en Orient, dans des régions qui ont souffert de la domination turque. Ils ont le sens du drame et de l expression populaire, ils déploient rites et métaphores, ils cultivent l humour et la poésie.» ii (D Esneval : 2004, p. 73). Il convient de noter que, de manière générale, il y a des différences importantes entre le roman et le film et les téléspectateurs ne devraient pas chercher la fidélité des éléments narratologiques dans l iconographie. À ce point, Mieke Bal observait: «La traduction d un roman dans les termes d un film ne signifie pas la transposition parfaite des éléments de la narration dans des images, mais une réfiguration des aspects les plus importants de la narration et de leurs significations.» (Bal : 2008, p. 169) Les observations du narratologue Mieke Bal sont parfaitement valables pour le film La 25ème Heure, où la traduction des mondes n a pas été possible. Nous pouvons parler dans ce cas d une rupture identitaire car le film se trouve dans l espace liminal entre deux cultures. Les autorités communistes de l époque n ont pas permis le tournage du film sur le territoire roumain et il a été réalisé dans l ex-yougoslavie et à Paris, dans les studios de Boulogne. Si la mise en images est superbe, nous ne pouvons pas dire la même chose sur l atmosphère restituée qu Amaury D Esneval caractérisait comme traversée d «une poignante originalité» (D Esneval : 2004 : 73). Bien au contraire, nous considérons que l atmosphère est sensiblement différente de celle que Gheorghiu décrivait dans son roman. Traduction des mondes et focalisation Le film, à la différence du roman, est périodisé et cette méthode du cinéaste correspond relativement aux chapitres du roman, renvoyant, en fin de compte, à la narration spatialisée et temporalisée, à laquelle il met en valeurs les chronotopes de la rencontre, du chemin, du passage. Le film commence par une scène ludique du 15 mars 1939 Quelque part en Roumanie : il s agit du baptême orthodoxe de l un des enfants de Johann Moritz. Normalement, cette scène aurait dû refléter le mieux les éléments de roumanité du roman, mais la vision du réalisateur y est complètement diverse en raison des différences culturelles liées à des contraintes d espace. Cette scène n apparaît pas dans le roman éponyme qui commence, à son tour, par des descriptions topographiques, chronographiques, prosographiques, spécifiques à une production réaliste. Dans le film, les habits des paysans sont très différents de ceux que Gheorghiu avait décrits dans le roman, étant peut-être plus proches des habits du Sud de la Roumanie, vu la proximité de l ex-yougoslavie et les influences anthropologiques spécifiques à 22

23 une telle proximité. En outre, les coutumes et la musique ont des racines plutôt toujours dans le Sud. La scène du baptême présente de différentes influences religieuses et le prêtre Alexandru Korugă, incarné par l acteur Ian Weirich, n a pas l aura de sainteté que Gheorghiu lui avait donnée dans son roman. Son rôle est d ailleurs plutôt secondaire, moins important que celui du personnage du roman. Après le baptême, les parents de l enfant, leurs invités et la famille du prêtre quittent l église dans des chariots pour aller à la fête organisée par Moritz. À ce niveau, nous avons constaté un autre acte de rupture identitaire provoqué par l endroit où le film avait été tourné. Si l action du roman se déroule dans le village transylvain Fântâna, où les habits, les coutumes et la musique ont des influences germaniques, suite au règne austro-hongrois, le réalisateur comble cette lacune, plaçant l action du film quelque part en Roumanie, bien que plus tard il utilise le nom du village du roman. Dans la cour de la maison de Moritz, ses invités dansent la hora qui est fondamentalement un élément spécifique à l identité roumaine. La danse du film a d autres influences populaires et les invités montrent une joie qui n est pas spécifique aux paysans de Transylvanie, caractérisés plutôt par la sobriété. Une première scène où nous pouvons identifier la focalisation, comme technique de subjectivation, est constituée par l apparition du gendarme Dobresco, à cheval, qui regarde la fête et surtout Suzanne, en dehors de la cour. Cette scène met l accent sur le regard de haut en bas, qui représente d habitude dans le discours visuel de la culture occidentale un regard autoritaire, colonisateur. (Bal : 2008 : 39). Le regard autoritaire du gendarme examine minutieusement la foule que de divers narrateurs focaliseront maintes fois dans le film. Partant de la traduction défectueuse des mots, qui repose sur la projection des mentalités et des aspects culturels modernes sur des réalités et sur de différentes valeurs culturels archaïques, Bal attire l attention sur l utilité de l interaction entre la narratologie et l anthropologie dans la compréhension de l altérité ( Bal : 2008 : pp ). À ce point, nous avons observé dans le film l omission de plusieurs «figures de l altérité» qui peuplent le roman de Gheorghiu, tel Iorgu Iordan, le père de Suzanne. En fait, le réalisateur ne compte pas sur le drame personnel générant le drame collectif, mais son approche est plutôt inversée, à travers de nombreuses focalisations sur les foules. Si le roman est construit par mise en abyme, le réalisateur ne garde pas ce procédé dans le film et le récit encadré, qui joue un rôle important dans l économie du roman, est finalement supprimé. Au moment du baptême apparaissent Traian et Nora Korugă, des personnages très différents des caractères du roman. Si dans le roman, Nora West est une femme très belle et extravagante, dans le film elle apparaît seulement dans cette scène, comme une femme craintive qui n a rien à faire avec la journaliste volontaire du roman. Serge Reggiani, qui a incarné Traian Korugă, n avait pas fait un rôle de premier plan et n avait pas prouvé la force de caractère et la splendeur du personnage romanesque. Beaucoup plus proche du personnage romanesque est Antony Quinn, qui incarne magistralement Johann Moritz. Ainsi, nous ne sommes pas d accord avec les propos du biographe Amaury D Esneval, qui, parlant du film, observait: «Moritz et Traian, ces deux figures marchent d un même pas. Victimes de la nouvelle barbarie, ils ont traversé l absurde, la bêtise, la cruauté qu ils vivent ou qu ils succombent, ils disent non à la déshumanisation. A travers eux, un nouveau Candide est né ; il n est plus sec et vantard, mais son cœur est de chair. Avec autant d obstination que de douceur, ils dénoncent le monstrueux complot agencé contre l innocent. Un sens inné de la communication les habite. Le geste et la parole escortent leur entrée en dissidence. Ils feront école.» ( D Esneval : 2004, p. 74 ). Johann Moritz et Traian Korugă sont certainement des héros exemplaires, mais c est seulement l écrivain qui les présente comme tel et la vision du réalisateur, comme nous l avons souligné, favorise le drame collectifs où ces deux figures ne sont pas si bien mises en valeur. Si dans le roman il y a la discussion entre Traian, ses parents et le procureur George Damian sur le nouveau roman que Traian est en train d écrire, s agissant donc du récit encadré appelé La 25 ème Heure, dans le film, Traian affirme qu il n écrira aucun roman car l heure 25 est déjà arrivée et Serge Reggiani 23

24 n est pas du tout convaincant dans le rôle de l écrivain visionnaire. Les États-Unis apparaissent comme un leit motif du film, incarnant soit le rêve échoué soit la déception: le film commence par l entrée hâtive de Ghiţă, le parrain de l enfant, dans l église, qui annonce à Moritz son départ pour les États-Unis et plus tard il lui enverra une carte postale de New York. La caméra se concentre sur cette carte postale et elle surprend immédiatement le sentiment de nostalgie que Moritz éprouve à sa réception. Les États-Unis représente aussi la déception car, lorsque Moritz se trouve dans le camp américain de réfugiés, il affirme: Et dire que je voulais partir aux États-Unis! En ce qui concerne les ruptures identitaires, nous signalons aussi le décor inadéquat. Dans la maison de Moritz, les scénaristes ont jugé utile de mettre sur le mur une photo d Ion Creangă afin de rendre le décor plus authentique. Peu probable qu un foyer transylvain modeste du XX e siècle ait eu une photo d Ion Creangă pour tableau. En outre, la maison des Stein de Budapest dispose des décors spécifiques aux années 60. La belle actrice Virna Lisi, qui incarne Suzanne, se remarque par des vêtements populaires qui ne sont pas roumains et par un maquillage très apprécié par les stars féminines de Hollywood des années 60. Par ailleurs, lorsque le prêtre Korugă vient lui apporter la nouvelle que Moritz est vif, Suzanne lui demande s il veut prendre un café. Dans le roman, Suzanne est décrite comme une paysanne transylvaine authentique qui ne se caractérise pas par un style particulier ou par la courtoisie, mais elle est plutôt opprimée par son père Iorgu Iordan, sa belle-mère Aristiţa, les horreurs de la guerre, étant aussi la victime d un viol. Comme on le sait déjà, on a accusé Gheorghiu d antisémitisme car il avait décrit des portraits négatifs des Juifs: Marcou Goldenberg, Strul, Stein etc. Dans le film, Marcou Goldenberg dit à Moritz qu il a rencontré dans la cour de la gendarmerie que: «Nous vivons dans un monde où n importe qui peut devenir Juif à n importe quel moment.» Telle est l idée centrale du roman qu Henri Verneuil a reprise de Gheorghiu et il l a très bien soulignée. Si les drames personnels ne sont pas suffisamment mis en évidences, par l omission des éléments de l identité d appartenance, le réalisateur souligne, en échange, les drames collectifs: des Juifs, des prisonniers politiques, des gens qui n appartiennent pas à la race aryenne. Lorsque Moritz reçoit l ordre de réquisition, le personnage du film ne s en soucie pas et le réalisateur ne met pas en valeur ses troubles et le déracinement ressenti par celui qui rompt avec l identité de l homme traditionnel. Lorsqu il se présente au poste de gendarmerie, Moritz aperçoit Dobresco qui rasait sa barbe et qui refuse d avoir une discussion avec lui. Le réalisateur insiste sur un slogan communiste affiché sur le mur de la gendarmerie: «Qui longue langue a, cinq ans le sel coupera». Nous soulignons la focalisation de la scène du départ de Moritz à travers le miroir où Dobresco faisait sa toilette. Le réalisateur, narrateur omniscient, choisit de garder ainsi les focalisations du roman: le miroir, l appareil photo, les lunettes de Traian Korugă. Dans le film, apparaît la foule des Juifs envoyés au Canal et le réalisateur suggère ainsi leur drame pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale. Au Canal, lorsque le capitaine parle, il y a derrière lui, sur une petite colline, des soldats à cheval, se répétant la scène de haut en bas. Ce type de focalisation réapparaît après la déportation de Moritz au Canal, quand le gendarme Dobresco revient à la maison de Moritz avec l intention de conquérir Suzanne, vêtu en tenu de galla et lui parlant de son cheval d une voix autoritaire. Dans le film, Johann Moritz a la même «innocence» que Paul Miclău soulignait dans la préface de la première édition en roumain de La 25 ème Heure: au Canal, il aurait la possibilité de s évader mais il ne le fait pas, il veut seulement constater si le blé est mûr; Moritz pense qu il emmènera sa famille à voir le Canal et il est très fier de son travail. Dans la scène appelée «Le 7 octobre 1940: Invasion de la Roumanie par l armée allemande», Dobresco oblige Suzanne à divorcer afin de ne pas lui réquisitionner ses biens. Annoncé que Suzanne avait divorcé de lui, Moritz doute de son identité et se dit avec désespoir que: «Je suis peut-être Juif, c était peut-être mon grand-père ou quelqu un d autre...», affirmation qui n apparaît pas dans le roman, Moritz étant très attaché à son 24

25 identité d appartenance qu il n avait jamais remise en question. Moritz s évade avec trois prisonniers juifs et fuient en Hongrie chez les Stein, dans la scène appelée «Budapest, le 20 novembre 1940». L ex-prisonnier Stein reprend en quelque sorte l affirmation de Marcou Goldenberg, disant à Moritz que: «Devant les balles on peut être Juif, mais pas parmi les Juifs.» Accompagnant Stein à la gare, Moritz est l unique personne arrêtée de la foule quittant Budapest par crainte des représailles raciales. Dans le roman, Moritz est arrêté pendant qu il accompagnait Iulişka, la domestique des Stein, aux achats. Henri Verneuil a insisté sur l épisode de l ornement du train avec des fleurs par les prisonniers transportés en Allemagne. La scène est magistralement réalisée, accompagnée par une chanson suggestive: les prisonniers cueillissent les fleurs pendant que les soldats les surveillent avec des fusils. Dans la séquence «1942, Allemagne, Le camp de travail d Oremburg», apparaît la distinction entre le narrateur et le focalisateur car on assiste à la scène de la transformation de Moritz, qui «suppose de la vision: voir différemment et voir la différence transforment radicalement la fable et le personnage.» (Bal : 2008, p. 39) Comme dans le roman, Moritz est devenu obéissant en Allemagne, attentif à bien exécuter les ordres. Dans l usine allemande, il se fait remarquer par le colonel Müller dans une scène intéressante où Moritz est focalisé par un équipement carré mobile semblable à un écran. Verneuil garde le discours du colonel Müller sur la race aryenne et sa démonstration devant plusieurs officiers nazis qui symbolisent les représentants de la Famille héroïque. Si Müller est dans le roman le disciple du redouté Rosenberg, la référence à celui-ci est explicite dans le film car Müller ordonne à un officier d envoyer les photos de Moritz à Goebbels et à Rosenberg. Transformé, malgré lui, en soldat nazi, Moritz est quand même fier de cette «promotion», mais, comme dans le roman, il ne peut pas s y habituer, agissant toujours comme un prisonnier. Dans la séquence «Le 20 avril 1944: L Armée Rouge envahit la Roumanie», les communistes arrivent dans le village Fântâna, où les paysans les accueillent dans une scène dans laquelle tout est couvert de boue. Marcou Goldenberg, qui avait rejoint le mouvement communiste, commence la série d abus par l arrestation du sergent Dobresco. Le prêtre Korugă y réapparaît, fuyant les communistes comme dans le roman: dans le film, il se rend chez Suzanne pour lui apporter un exemplaire du magazine sur la couverture duquel Moritz apparaît vêtu en soldat nazi. Le transfert de pouvoir est suggéré par la mise au feu dans la place publique des tableaux avec Hitler et des magazines avec le «nazi» Johann Moritz. En Allemagne, les camions avec les soldats et les prisonniers sont bombardés et tous se réfugient dans les ruines. Moritz se fait remarquer par le sauvetage des prisonniers, tirant sur deux soldats nazis. Arrivé à U.N.R.A., il est considéré soldat nazi et on le transfert dans le camp américain d Oremburg, où on lui dit qu «aucune indiscipline ne sera tolérée.» Le réalisateur suggère la transformation des gens en citoyens, ce qui anticipait d ailleurs Traian Korugă dans ses Pétitions. Dans ce camp de réfugiés, Moritz rencontre Traian Korugă, et en «Septembre 1946 (19 mois plus tard)», Traian dit qu il a écrit 64 Pétitions pour chaque semaine pendant laquelle il avait été retenu dans le camp. On a gardé la scène absurde du roman dans laquelle les officiers américains ennuyés et ironiques appellent Moritz afin de lui demander si son nom est orthographié avec t ou tz. Traian apprend d une lettre envoyée par la Croix Rouge que son père est en prison bien que dans le roman Alexandru Korugă meure dans le camp dans les bras de son fils -, sa mère est morte et l église est fermée. Sur la question de Moritz relative à Nora, Traian répond qu elle était Juive, lui laissant comprendre qu elle serait morte, quoique dans le roman, Nora est l un des rares personnages-survivant. Laissant ses lunettes à Moritz, Traian sort de la cabane dans un paysage désert plein de boue et se dirige très déterminé vers la clôture du camp. Comme dans le roman, Traian est tué par une sentinelle, mais, à la différence de la narration, les autres prisonniers n y assistent pas. La mort de Traian Korugă est intensément focalisée et la caméra enregistre toute sorte de détails psychologiques. Le commandant du camp 25

26 reçoit la soixante-cinquième Pétition de Traian Korugă, mais il y est assez indifférent. Vision sur l identité Moritz, qui était apparu sur a couverture de 3728 publications allemandes, y compris sur la couverture du livre de Müller, La Famille héroïque, est jugé par le Tribunal de la Nuremberg, et le procureur affirme que: «Des millions de gens sont morts parce qu ils ne lui ressemblaient pas.» Cette scène, qui n apparaît pas dans le roman de Gheorghiu, donne l occasion au réalisateur de mettre en lumière la figure de Moritz, dans une salle immense pleine de gens qui s amusent de son embarras. L avocat défenseur, incarné par l acteur Michael Redgrave, demande à Moritz s il sait où il se trouve et celui-ci lui répond que ni les dernières 8 années il n a pas su où il se trouvait. Dans le roman, les années passées par Moritz dans le camp sont, en fait, 13. Visiblement ému, l avocat lit la lettre de Suzanne où elle a raconté les horreurs qu elle, avec ses enfants, avaient vécues pendant la guerre. La foule de la salle se prépare pour un spectacle, le triste spectacle de la souffrance de Moritz: les juges mettent les écouteurs pour écouter la lecture de la lettre et les photographes sont en train de surprendre les réactions de Moritz. Ces détails suggèrent l indifférence des gens face aux drames réels et le réalisateur ironise ainsi l appétit de la société de son époque pour le spectacle de la souffrance humaine. Durant la lecture de la lettre, Johann Moritz est filmé de derrière, la tête baissée. Si dans le roman, l attribution d une nouvelle identité détermine Johann Moritz à «fermer les yeux», il semble qu Henri Verneuil ait remarqué ce geste qu il avait transformé dans le film, Moritz «baissant sa tête», mais le geste signifie la même renonciation devant le destin. Au fur et à mesure que l avocat lit la lettre de Suzanne, la caméra s approche de Moritz et le surprend absent, les larmes aux yeux. L optimisme du personnage, ce Candide qui a défié l Histoire, s éteint et la place de Moritz l innocent est prise par un homme fatigué et abattu. Comme dans le roman, la fin du film est symétrique à l incipit, même si le film ne suit pas le dénouement romanesque. Semblable au début, apparaît l adverbe quelque part qui suggère au spectateur la fin triste et le manque d importance du lieu, l histoire pouvant se passer n importe où sur la terre. En «Novembre 1949 quelque part en Allemagne», Moritz descend du train avec d autres réfugiés qui sont attendus par leurs familles impatientes de les revoir. Moritz cherche sa famille et l aperçoit, solitaire, sur le quai: Suzanne et les trois fils. Suzanne est vieillie et ses deux fils sont froids, presque hostiles, lui disant monsieur. Suzanne sourit parmi les larmes, tenant contre soi l enfant blond, appelé dans le roman l enfant des Russes. Moritz fixe de son regard l enfant blond lui demandant son nom et Suzanne lui répond que son nom est Marcou, suggérant la liaison entre le viol, Marcou Goldenberg et l enfant. La dernière scène est peut-être la plus évocatrice du film. Un photographe enthousiaste arrive en retard à l événement triste du retour des réfugiés et propose à Moritz, qu il connaissait déjà car il était apparemment devenu célèbre, et à sa famille de leur prendre une photo. Les cadres capturés par le photographe-focalisateur présentent une famille déchirée par les horreurs de la guerre, réunie par le destin, mais solitaire et souffrante. Afin qu il obtienne un effet publicitaire, le photographe met l enfant blond dans les bras de Moritz et lui dit d embrasser Suzanne qui, terrifiée, se met à pleurer. Alors que le photographe leur dit de sourire, utilisant, presqu en criant, la célèbre formule de la fin du roman «Keep smiling!», Moritz commence à pleurer et ferme ses yeux. La scène finale est vraiment émouvante, tout comme la fin du roman, et le réalisateur y adopte totalement la vision de l écrivain. Analysant les différences généralement valables entre le roman et le film, Mieke Bal affirmait: «L idée d une comparaison entre le roman et le film ne consiste pas dans l évaluation esthétique de la fidélité à la source. Au contraire, considérant le roman et le film comme des éléments également insérés dans la culture qui les engendre, la comparaison permet l articulation du message adressé à l audience par l intermédiaire de sa propre construction narrative. Leur rapport est, par conséquent, intertextuel et interdiscursif.» (Bal : 2008, p. 172) 26

27 De ce point de vue, le rapport entre le roman et le film La 25 ème Heure est partiellement intertextuel et interdiscursif car ils n étaient pas également insérés dans la culture américaine qui, incapable de les comparer, avait adopté la vision d Henri Verneuil. Si le roman porte sur le thème de la modification de l identité dans le contexte de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, le film, à travers des moyens parfois divers et sans suivre les indices visuels proposés par le roman, porte sur le même sujet, mais nous considérons que l effet sur le spectateur n est pas semblable à celui que le roman avait laissé sur le lecteur. Nous croyons que cet échec est causé, tout d abord, par le fait que le film n a pas été tourné en Roumanie. D autre part, le réalisateur n a pas réussi à représenter le fondement iconographique de la position idéologique militante que Gheorghiu avait proposée dans son roman et il n a pas pu surprendre les sources narratives que l écrivain avait utilisées afin de renforcer sa prise d attitude. Le roman met en lumière les principaux thèmes que le film avait supprimés à cause des contraintes d espace qui imposent ainsi la vision du réalisateur: le village, l identité d appartenance, les attributions d identité etc., qui étaient d ailleurs significatives pour ce qui est de l accent mis sur le drame personnel que Gheorghiu avait merveilleusement mis en valeur. De ce point de vue, le film marque une nouvelle attribution d identité, l identité balkanique qu Henri Verneuil, le réalisateur arménien, et Antony Quinn, l acteur de Zorba le Grec de 1964, connaissaient très bien. Le film offre, comme nous l avons observé, des conventions de genre du cinéma américain des années 60: décors, maquillage, vision du réalisateur. En ce qui concerne la focalisation, l élément humain est présenté numériquement, souvent dans des paysages suggestifs. Tous ces éléments résonnent avec les films de profil de l époque. Considéré comme documentaire du XX e siècle, le film d Henri Verneuil gagne une valeur supplémentaire: l efficacité des images est due à leur caractère réaliste et moins à leur rapport avec le pré-texte. Privé de ce rapport, le film devient une simple récupération des événements douloureux qui avaient marqué le siècle dernier et moins un conte philosophique sur la condition humaine. Par conséquent, le cinéma est un auxiliaire précieux de la littérature, illustrant de grandes œuvres, incitant le public à lire, et exerçant, à son tour, son influence sur le roman qui s inspirera dorénavant de l optique, de la technique du découpage et des séquences cinématographique. References * All the references to the Romanian books or publications are in my translation. Bal, Mieke, (2008). Naratologia, Sorin Pârvu, Monica Bottez (trad.) Iaşi: Editura Institutul European. Bakhtin, Mikhaïl, (1978). Esthétique de la théorie du roman, Paris: Gallimard. Calin, Daniel, (2003). La rupture migratoire, in Cahiers du RPIJ, nr. 3/: D Esneval, Amaury, (2004). Gheorghiu, Coll. Qui suis-je, Puiseaux : Pardès. Gheorghiu, Constantin Virgil, (2006). La 25 e heure, Paris: Plon. 27

28 LE CINEMA ROUMAIN AU SEIN DE LA FRANCOPHONIE Associate Professor ELENA SAULEA, National University of Drama and Film, Bucharest, "I.L. Caragiale", Bucharest Abstract. Le cinema roumain au sein de la francophonie has several characteristics that gives it unity with respect to vision and specific, some of the most evident would be, firstly, the poetic aspect, expressed through visual art but also through ideas, then the meditative-reflexive flavour stamped on the main character but also on the somber, gloomy atmosphere of a stirred past, artistically transfigured in its greatness. Through esthetically controverted, but creatively stimulating, epic-illustrative formulas, which mix emphasis, mystery and analogy, historical films revive in this way the beauty of the dramatic emotions of the homeland, often mysticised by culturalist productions of today's communicative world. Résumé. Les années soixante et soixante-dix du siècle dernier se sont révélées artistiquement téméraires dans le paysage cinématographique roumain de l époque, volontiers ouvert aux expériences esthétiques occidentales, au contexte multiculturel européen. Expression de la rencontre d un monde de l âme et d une vision de l esprit, les films roumains qui font l objet de notre propos sont l œuvre de réalisateurs français fascinés par le génie des lieux culturels. Leur succès est dû au travail exceptionnel mis en commun par des équipes franco-roumaines partageant le même enchantement et dont les acteurs, les scénographes, les décorateurs, les opérateurs ou les assistants de mise en scène ont su (con)fondre leurs efforts ingénieux pour faire passer à l écran la spécificité d un vécu autochtone envoûtant. En ce sens, nous allons tâcher de saisir ce qu on pourrait appeler le support affectif francophone du film roumain au milieu du XX e siècle, à savoir la sensibilité subtile et originale d une trame filmique ouverte aux interrogations qui filtrent à travers des images visuelles fascinantes, révélatrices de la richesse d âme et d esprit des Roumains. Mots-clés: film roumain, francophone, Panait Istrati, Mihail Sebastian. Comme on le sait, l image de cinéma et la pensée imageante sont constamment en relation. Le film, tout film digne de ce nom, se donne comme cette relation de l image incarnée et du concept fécond. D autre part, la pensée et l image œuvrent à l intérieur des concepts, tout comme la pensée et les concepts opèrent à l intérieur de l image. Au fil de son devenir, le cinéma a toujours cherché à saisir le mouvement de la pensée et de ses mécanismes. Ce qui ne veut pas dire que le cinéma se retranche dans l abstrait, par contre, et de la manière la plus concrète possible, il est pensée mise en images. Tout comme il y a un lien intime entre la pensée qui se pense et la vie de la pensée, de même il y a un lien ombilical entre le film qui fait la vie et la vie qui fait le film. En d autres termes, si le film est dispensateur d être s ajoutant à l être déjà là, il importe de faire ressortir la nature de cet être ineffable que seul le cinéma est capable de mettre au monde. Or, la réponse à cette question ne saurait être trouvée que chez des réalisateurs dont la vision se nourrit de cultures fusionnées. À leurs côtés il y a aussi des acteurs, des scénaristes, des artistes de l image, tous ces artisans qui vibrent au rythme inédit d une sensibilité inconnue, qu ils découvrent avec surprise en euxmêmes, mais comme si elle leur venait de l autre, de l étranger qui, du coup, apparaît comme un autre soi-même. Ce qui attire et éblouit chez cet être existentiellement autre qui est l être filmique et qui fait concurrence à tout être lourd de présence mortelle, c est précisément sa nature temporelle par excellence, sa manifestation comme durée au-delà de la durée humaine, comme humanité perpétuée en durée pure, comme durée où l humain éphémère se résorbe en fascination éternelle. 28

29 Le scénario devenu film est la voix d une vérité humaine cristallisée en image. Cette vérité humaine ne devient image que pour mieux capter l âme imageante, toujours affamée d images, toujours curieuse de se sentir être en images, toujours cherchant à s accrocher aux images qu elle se plaît à engendrer comme pour conjurer le fini de sa vie dans l infini de son appétit de survie. Le spectateur ne voit que pour mieux sentir, il ne regarde que ce que son âme l incite à regarder. C est qu il a l âme narrative et que la narration est sa seule source spirituelle, le fonds affectif responsable des émotions par lesquelles il s accorde à celles d autrui dans un monde où sa vie est un possible qui fait toujours reculer l impossible. Les Chardons du Bărăgan (1957) est la transposition cinématographique du roman au titre homonyme de l écrivain roumain d expression française Panait Istrati, qui fait ses débuts littéraires en 1923, dans la revue Europe, avec Kyra Kyralina 1, * dont la préface est signée par Romain Rolland, son sauveur providentiel qui allait le comparer à Gorki. Le réalisateur du film est Louis Daquin, secondé par les scénaristes roumains Antoine Tudal et Alexandru Struţeanu. L image en est assuré par le Français André Dumaître et la scénographie est signée par le Roumain Liviu Popa. Parmi les acteurs roumains qui s y font remarquer il y a Clody Bertola (Duduca), Marcel Anghelescu (Ursu), Florin Piersic (Tănase), Mihai Berechet (le boyard), de même que la chanteuse Maria Tănase qui allait faire une carrière prestigieuse par la suite. La réalité et la poésie s y enchevêtrent avec bonheur, le conflit social et l amour se déploient avec une intensité éblouissante, évoluant progressivement vers un dénouement tragique, la répression de la révolte paysanne, en écho aux événements dramatiques lors du soulèvement des paysans de 1907, permettent à la souffrance individuelle de se fondre dans la grande vague de la douleur collective. L image des chardons entraînés par le vent vaut comme métaphore de l homme humble traqué par son destin. Le spectateur 1 Signalons, à ce propos, que l Instiut Français de Bucarest a eu l idée lumineuse d ouvrir à Bucarest, au 8 rue George Enescu, la librairie française «Kyra Kyralina», initiative qui fait de celle-ci un passeur de valeurs culturelles entre la Roumanie et la France. est plongé dans un monde d une beauté simple, aride, d une rigueur sobre. L espace austère, étrange, énigmatique laisse pressentir ses empreintes dramatiques. Il échappe au pittoresque facile grâce aux choix scénographiques et à la vision du réalisateur qui ajoute de la poésie visuelle à l histoire de l enfant abandonné par les siens mère, père, amis et se retrouvant tout seul à affronter la vie et la mort. Tout cela se donne à voir par la chorégraphie plastique de cette œuvre cinématographique d exception où il y a des séquences mémorables, telles la charrette de la mort à laquelle est attelé, au propre et au figuré, le père de Matache ou la silhouette mince et triste du puits à bascule au milieu d une plaine à perte de vue, un paysage de solitude finement découpé mais renvoyant avec éloquence et ferveur à la communauté humaine qui l habite pour le meilleur et pour le pire. Ce qu il y a au-delà de la souffrance, de la solitude, de l injustice sociale et du destin implacable, on peut l envisager comme ce grain d ineffable, d émotion souterraine qui gagne le cœur du spectateur tout au long du film. Les sentiments y sont pétris par la souffrance, par une endurance qui esseule l être et un ascétisme existentiel qui invitent à rejoindre la zone d une identification spirituelle proche du rituel, de la vie comme poème chanté, comme ballade du destin. La ronde paysanne, les chants de tristesse et de déploration, la rythmicité du travail ou la mélopée de la souffrance collective muette s accompagnent de descentes dans les villages de huttes. On regarde avec émotion les grands espaces ou les espaces-pièges que sont les fourrés de jonc, les cannaies, les marais ou la forêt qui finit par être l abri des gens tués par la canonnade. La démythification de la forêt protectrice de la vie a pour conséquence une douleur commune, le lamento d un espace imprégné de souffrance humaine. Le film s attache à suivre le fil de deux destins, l un individuel, l autre collectif, d une malédiction existentielle et d une passion sociale. Rien ne saurait être sauvé de ce qui pourrait l être, et la solitude de Matache, mûri par les événements qu il vit ou dont il est le spectateur, n est que l expression d une élégie pérennisée. Cependant, il y a quelque chose comme une aurore qui s annonce par-delà la 29

30 souffrance de l être humain aux prises avec le mal. C est son aptitude au sacrifice, sa force de se vouer corps et âme à l être qu il aime, à ceux pour qui il se sent capable de mourir, qu il aime d un amour compatissant, d un amour comme épreuve de passage de la vie mortelle à une vie autre, amour qui n est que l empreinte christique au cœur de l homme. Tănase, campé par un Florin Piersic jeune et grave, sait que son amour pour Tudoriţa est au-delà de la vie et de la mort et il s abstient de faire le moindre geste qui puisse faire virer sa souffrance à la désolation. Il prend son mal en patience et consent à jouer le jeu de celui qui le contraint à épouser Safta, la maîtresse du boyard grosse de ses œuvres, mais son humiliation, il ne l oublie pas et sait qu il la fera payer cher au boyard. Sa vengeance sera l étincelle qui met le feu aux poudres, le déclenchement de la révolte, sa mort sera le signal de toutes les fureurs, de tous les cris à la mort. Visuellement, la frénésie de la mort est rendue par les épines des chardons flottant au gré du vent de plaine, image du jeu chaotique de la fragilité et de la force, de la vie menacée par le néant. Le leitmotiv du film c est le regard de l enfant Matache, dont la sensibilité, l intelligence et l âge lui font observer avec déchirement l avancée du monde vers sa perte. Figure de l innocence dans un monde tragique, l adolescent est un alter ego de l écrivain, tel qu il apparaîtra aussi, sous un jour plus sensiblement autobiographique, mais toujours à la frontière de la fiction et du réel, dans le film Codin (1962), dont le réalisateur est également un Français, Henri Colpi, avec une distribution de rôles largement autochtone. Adrian, le héros raisonneur de ce film est l ami de Codin. Celui-ci, haleur au port de Brăila, est un géant à l âme d enfant, qui va détruire la vie de tous les siens, sa propre vie en premier, car sa morale lui interdit de faire des compromis. Dans ce film aussi, le drame social est responsable de l anéantissement de la dignité humaine, de la maladie, de la pauvreté, de la promiscuité existentielle poussée à la limite, tous ces engrenages qui donnent à la vie son pouls d enfer. Mais il y a quelque chose qui va au-delà de ces bouges où sévissent le choléra, la prostitution, l alcoolisme, le crime. C est le souffle de la poésie qui vibre parmi les îlots de nénuphars, dans la forêt vierge où, comme dans le bon vieux temps, les liens humains sont délicatement et indélébilement inscrits dans les cœurs, tel ce moment où Adrian et Codin décident de se lier frères à la vie et à la mort. L enfant rêveur et sensible et le tueur craint de tous éveillent dans le spectateur une vibration humaine des plus émouvantes, allant au-delà de l éphémère immédiat, pour rendre présent, par l image, le mot et l atmosphère, un avant-goût de monde inédit, de paradis perdu à reconquérir à force de sentiments purs que les circonstances ne sauraient altérer. Le goût de l ascension spirituelle, le plaidoyer à la fois suave et grave pour la solidarité humaine dans ses différentes manifestations, la délicatesse des sentiments purs, discrets et durables, le refus du compromis, fût-il motivé par la misère, la pauvreté ou la décadence, sont autant de manifestations de la sensibilité aux prises avec les impératifs de la raison. Le film tourne aussi à l évocation grâce au personnage d Adrian Zograffi, écrivain mûr, alter ego de Panait Istrati, qui se rappelle son enfance marquée par la pauvreté, mais ennoblie tout de même par sa passion des lectures captivantes, stimulant le travail de l imagination. La physionomie gracieuse de Zoica, la mère, cette lavandière au noble cœur, et la figure de Codin, l ami qu on n attendait pas, mais qui suscite dans l âme émue de l enfant des sentiments élevés, de même que le sens du dévouement et du sacrifice au nom de l amitié, en voilà autant de personnages vivants par lesquels la vie refait son parcours d autrefois grâce au film du souvenir. Dans le monde faubourien qui peuple ce port du Danube se donnent rendez-vous toutes les passions humaines. L argent et les plaisirs charnels, la gargote et la rue, le monde pittoresque du vingtième siècle commençant, tout cela incite le côté animal de l homme à lutter pour sa survie coûte que coûte, loin de toute illusion de bonheur. Cependant, par-delà toute douleur larvée, tout plaisir à la sauvette, on entend susurrer la voix pure de l amour, les sentiments qui naissent d une pensée généreuse et d une bonne action, à l exemple d Adrian, le garçon aux bottes polies comme un miroir et aux vêtements tout propres, devenu l ami de l individu le plus craint du faubourg, l homme qui jetait sa mère à la rue avec une 30

31 brutalité incroyable, faute de pouvoir oublier les sévices qu il avait dû subir dans son enfance. Cette rencontre de l homme dur et de l enfant fragile mais intelligent, franc de cœur, généreux et raisonnable, ne devient possible que par l heureuse harmonie des actions humaines, par la conjugaison de la force de l adulte qui se défoule et de la pensée admirative du garçon qui s en accommode. Codin arrache les barreaux de la fenêtre pour permettre à l enfant de mieux voir dehors, de s initier à la vie réelle, séquence hautement symbolique, où l idéologie se taille aussi sa part, mais sans faire baisser le pouls intime de la trame en son ensemble. L amour y est fait d abnégation et de générosité. Il coule tout naturellement le long du film où la sensualité et les sentiments se confondent avec délicatesse et discrétion. D une grande intensité dramatique, particulièrement émouvant pour le spectateur, l amour de Codin et de Zoica, la mère d Adrian, bien qu il ne se soit pas comblé, témoigne autant de la tristesse que de la beauté des grandes joies muettes du cœur amoureux de ce qui fait le sublime de la vie. La mort de Codin, à la suite de l huile bouillante que lui fait boire sa mère pendant son sommeil, ajoute au final une note de tragique et de mythique à la fois, ce qui fait du mélodrame potentiel de cette narration destinée à l écran une sorte de canevas symbolique censé répondre à une interrogation autrement plus grave du destin individuel et de la condition humaine en général sujets à une fatalité dont l homme est toujours le vaincu. Àpartir d une pièce de théâtre cette fois, la comédie Steaua fără nume,1966 (L Étoile sans nom) de Mihail Sebastian, Henri Colpi tourne la comédie dramatique Mona, l étoile sans nom (1965), avec une distribution complexe, où le rôle de Mona, charmante et malicieuse, fine et délicate, est tenu par Marina Vlady. Miroiu, l astronome rêveur, professeur dans une bourgade, est interprété, avec un charme distant et de l humour ingénu par Claude Rich. Son rival, Grig, excelle par son agressivité virile dans le rôle joué par Cristea Avram. Grigore Vasiliu Birlic, jouant le rôle du professeur Udrea et Eugenia Popovici, celui de Mademoiselle Cucu, ajoutent, par leurs jovialité mélancolique et énergie terre à terre, ce qui ne saurait manquer à cette coproduction francoroumaine : intensité et authenticité du dialogue, souci des deux mondes, poussés par le même désir, de faire de leur vie une poésie intime, fût-elle amusante ou mélancolique. Apprécié et primé pour ses films réalisés en une langue étrangère, Henri Colpi donne une version française de ce film, avec les dialogues signés par François Billetdoux. La perspective du film est impressionnante, avec des extérieurs tournés à Râşnov, Sinaia, Câmpulung-Muscel et des intérieurs à Buftea, ce qui donne des extensions pittoresques à la narration filmique, en sorte que le monde de Miroiu, du professeur Udrea et de Mademoiselle Cucu parvient à construire, par les raccords de mise, un espace libéré du tourbillon ahurissant de la vie quotidienne. Conçu comme une parabole du paradis perdu, du bonheur édénique, le film laisse entendre que l entrée de Grig dans l espace pur qu est le «jardin» de l astronome a l air d une tentative de séduction d une Ève éternelle. L étoile découverte par Miroiu sera appelée du nom mondain de Mona, laquelle se laisse entraîner par Grig, l homme noiraud et dur, dans un monde des plaisirs qu elle, en tant que femme, ne saurait refuser. La formule de l amour parfait ne fonctionne pas. Celui qui se tient loin des joies illusoires du quotidien, le professeur de province Miroiu, est à son tour un homme désabusé qui ne fait que compenser son échec existentiel avec l illusion du monde parfait dont il rêve, qu il pressent et qui ne peut se signaler à lui que par la rêverie. La force hypnotisante de ce message astral opère aussi, comme enchantement, sur la merveilleuse créature, la femme descendue du train de l existence dans ce monde ambivalent, celui de la grandeur et de la petitesse de la vie, de la misère quotidienne et de la séduction de l absolu. Mona, la jeune femme élégante et raffinée, poussée par le désir de chercher quelque chose au-delà de ce qu elle a, mais qui pour cela n est pas capable de rompre avec les plaisirs de la vie facile, Mona donc, l étoile sans nom, devient ce qu elle est appelée à être, l inspiration et la respiration d une bourgade poussiéreuse, mais qui n en palpite pas moins pour autant, qui ne cesse de chercher un sens à sa vie, que 31

32 ce soit par frustration ou évasion, même si celle-ci n est qu une belle illusion! C est un film où l humour, qui fait toute la candeur et la fraîcheur de la pièce de Mihail Sebastian, est nourri par des détails et des stratégies visuelles inédites, telles la scène de la gare avec ses hôtes timides ou agressifs, mais surtout la maison de Miroiu, qui attire par sa noblesse désuète, deux modalités par lesquelles on peut rendre des états d esprit ou construire des mondes authentiques. Par ces existences concrètes, en chair et en os, c est la vie elle-même qui se manifeste, le reste ne semble être que métaphore du vide, si merveilleux et séduisant qu il soit. Par l interprétation de Marina Vlady et de Claude Rich, le réalisateur français s est révélé un pastelliste hors pair. Il a fait un film au pastel de cette tranche de vie qui aurait pu paraître hilare ou satirique si les acteurs français n y avaient pas travaillé en vrais magiciens! L image-film refait, par son propre langage, l image littéraire, celle qui naît de la rencontre du lecteur et du texte de l œuvre. Le niveau-image est l une des couches d intensité propres aux textes de poésie et de prose. Les sensations, les affects et les intensités sont liées à des forces matérielles. Ce qui sépare ces dernières d un discours théorique, qu il soit esthétique ou psychanalytique, c est le pont qu elles sont susceptibles de créer entre le corps vivant et les forces de la matière devenue art. Dans cette voie de la mise en valeur des ressources matérielles à potentiel artistique devient possible toute rencontre heureuse, telle, en l occurrence, celle des cultures roumaine et française dans la mise en images de cinéma. C est là une voie féconde, ouverte à toutes les tendresses humaines, à toutes les fraternités artistiques. References Burch, Noel Un praxis al cinematografului, Bucureşti: Editura Meridiane. Hasnaş, Andreea Spirit si grafie în arta spectacolului, Bucureşti: Editura Universitară Ion Mincu, Marcel, Martin Limbajul cinematografic, Bucureşti: Editura Meridiane. 32

33 FROM SILENT TO SOUND. BEGINNINGS OF SOUND TECHNIQUES IN ROMANIAN FILM Associate Professor FLORIN GIOROC* Hyperion University, Bucharest Abstract. This article is the result of research on the emergence of sound in Romanian cinema, a "heroic" time for the local cinema passionate pioneers that adopt and develop often using their own material resources the specific soundtrack creation technologies, new fundamental expressive aesthetic element of the film that was going to revolutionize the world of cinema. We are talking about the years Keywords: Romanian film, sound film, phonograph, history It * can be said that the film, as performance, was never without sound, in one form or another, but was only temporarily marked as a physical object by the technological handicap that was the inability to associate on the same support two specific messages: the visual and audio. Even before being film as we perceive it today, the "shadow" performances or other cinema visual experiments were often accompanied by sound. In the practice of silent cinema we can talk as long as the sound didn t become intrinsically expressive element of the film, by a casual attitude of the producer and director that left up to the distributor the "ad libitum" manner of the sound accompanying the film. Most often using music. Music that originated in the beginning either from a piano or later from a quartet, orchestra, marching band or phonograph. Beyond the increase of the natural sensation that the synchronous sound of films brings to the cinematic spectacle, more than likely that other arguments like increasing authority of the producer over their own product as a commercial product, to keep the originality of the product led to the solution of synchronous embedded sound film. From * Florin Gioroc (PhD) is a Sound Engineer and associate Professor of Faculty of Arts, Hyperion University, Bucharest. Areas of research: film editing, after effects, film sound Books/articles: Estetica sunetului în filmul de scurt metraj românesc UNATC PRESS, 2008, The sound track essential component of filmic expression Cinematographic Art... nr. 3/ 2008, Modalit i de structurare a coloanei sonore în filmul de scurt metraj românesc Revista Studii _i cercet_ri de film _i televiziune, nr. 9-10/ 2007, UNATC PRESS. [email protected] the very beginning until today have been and still are in use and two technical and commercial solutions: embedded optical sound (on photosensitive film) and synchronous sound played from a disc. In 1927 a bakelite disc with a diameter of 15 inches, a nowadays CD. Simple and effective. But what creative effervescence was behind these achievements, related to early mechanical sound recording and the appearance of the first electronic devices that made possible the recording and storing of sound, followed by the early cinema soundtrack techniques. The Flourishing of Audio in the Romanian Area The Lumière Cinema was quickly received and assumed with surprise, curiosity and enthusiasm in all countries it was presented, including Romania, in Bucharest, and its projections being accompanied, most often by a piano music, sought to complement on an audio level the great vitality of the images viewed. The accompaniment by sound was not a strict rule of those times, but rather meet a requirement of acoustic comfort of the audience, necessity that was to be satisfied whenever it was financially possible. References on the accompaniment with music, most often, of the projected images are scarce for the first period ( ), that of the introduction of "cinematic spectacle" in the Romanian area. According to these references, the Deva, owner of the restaurant-hotel "Coroana" bought a projection device equipped with all parts, in addition acquiring various films for the program...". The performances took place in 33

34 the summer garden restaurant which was completely transformed for this purpose... Projected movies were accompanied by an orchestra. The first representation of this kind took place on 18 May At Alba Iulia in 1908 the Urania cinema is born, its movie program being accompanied since the month of April by a piano. In 1911 the local cinema company Fortuna is born at Orăştie... The performances took place once a week and they were accompanied by the sound of military music of the local regiment. Also from sources of the time we find that in Alba Iulia, in 1911, because the projection room from hotel Europa became overcrowded a decision of building a new projection hall is taken, where "the orchestra receives a special box." In 1912, at Hunedoara, at Gh Toderaş s cinema, the film musical accompaniment was executed by the top orchestra in the city, that of Ferenk Lazok. In the kingdom, we should remember Gregory Brezeanu s special effort to produce the silent film "War of Independence", a film often considered the first Romanian artistic film (produced by the "The Film of Art Leon Popescu" studio). Presented on Sunday, September 2, 1912, at the "Eforie" cinema, the largest hall in Bucharest, the film received the army s marching band accompaniment. Jean Mihail remembers watching this movie in Roman, his hometown, in the "Brand" cinema hall in season After declaring his own emotions experienced at viewing, he notes that behind the screen, a infantry horner sounded the attack, while a drummer, armed with a military drum, beating fiercely, imitated the cannon shots. Around 20 soldiers were always present in the hall, namely brought to shout "HOORAY" during he attack scenes. Alongside us, the children in the audience, and even some more mature people, we all yelled loudly. The sound ambience was achieved and the patriotic feeling was bursting. (Mihail, Jean: 1967) The need of sound suggestion is clear from the above mentioned. Furthermore, some publications predict the appearance of sound in film. In 1914, at Alba Iulia and Hunedoara, movie amateurs were presented with the latest discovery in the field of cinema: the sound cinema. The public was informed, via media, about this important discovery of the century that was to " brilliantly combine phonograph with cinema". A newspaper wrote, anticipating the role of sound cinema in the cultural life that "cinema progresses enormously day by day being a serious and compelling theater competitor, for today it works as well as theater and if Edison's invention succeeds, the cinema will also speak." Another newspaper mentions "Edison's wonderful creation" and says that the "sound cinema - kinetofon achieves the wonder to capture for millennia the most real human element, the voice". From a brochure published by the gymnasium of Alba Iulia, on 24 February 1913, we learn that the "studying youth was able to see for the first time a show of sound cinema". No data are available on the program content. A local newspaper informed the public of Hunedoara about contracting a movie that would be presented in the first half of March 1914, at the Coroana cinema Deva film loving public was presented on 1 March 1914, with the sound cinema. In an article entitled "The speaking film of Edison" The public is informed that the "discovery of the century, perhaps of all time the sound cinema - is to be presented at the Urania" theatre. The program is not specified, but it points out that "the sound movie does not play only the human movement and face but also gives voice to the scene. Thud, the sound of voice, thousands of voices around us are recorded then played, so the screen will emanate the illusion of our lives." Observation very close to the reality and structure of the nowadays film soundtrack. Obviously, they were talking about sound film tests made beyond the Romanian area. In general, for every silent film produced in Romania in the Kingdom before the first World War, there is no reference to accompany films by "sound", except for "Războiul Independenţei". Amor fatal, Înşir-te mărgărite, Trădător fără voie, Amorurile unei prinţese, Răzbunarea, Năpasta, Urgia cerească, Cetatea Neamţului, Spionul, Oţelul răzbună are silent films made in prewar Romania entering the abovementioned category. 34

35 The outbreak of the World War I invalidates any activity intentions towards cinema, except perhaps the establishment under the General Headquarters of the Phototocinema Army Service. Despite poor technical equipment, image operators like Tudor Posmantir Tudor and Constantin Ivanovici, using personal devices, recorded on photographic film materials regarding the important events of the war from which only a fraction have been preserved. So no chance regarding sound. In the years following the war, the Romanian public meets through foreign films new cinema stars, films made using advanced technology, more daring widespread commercial production processes. External competition, to win the film markets, becomes tighter, and those who dominate are those who throw in battle the most effective technical, financial and organizational solutions. Those who fail to attract on their side businessman or the State as depositories of material resources required, are out of competition. In postwar Romania businessmen were only interested in easy earnings with small investment and risk as little as possible and the creation of a Romanian film industry does not meet the criteria mentioned above. And then, hypothetically speaking, once this industry created, what outlet would its products have in Romania? The existing approximately 250 theaters, a largely poor population, excessive state fiscal policy would have been able to give a guarantee that the funds invested will be recovered? Of course not! It s most likely the explanation why until 1923, we can say that no Romanian art film appears on screen. The desire to make films is stronger in the the souls of passionate like Jean Georgescu, Ion Şahighian, Eftimie Vasilescu, Ion Cosma, Ghiţă Popescu, Cornel Dumitrescu, Nicolae Barbelian, Vasile Gociu, Iosef Bertok and others. These "fanatics" of the film manage to find, sometimes wasting "treasures of ingenuity" solutions to finance their projects. Thus arise, one by one "Năbădăile Cleopatrei" (1925), directed by Ion Şahighian (debut), funded by a pensioner, "Millionaire for a Day" (1924), directed by Jean Georgescu (debut), funded by a cabaret owner from Bucharest which provided local team, props, and actors required, for commercial purposes, "Lia" (1927), directed by Jean Mihail, a beneficiary of the interest of a German businessman that did not cover the film, but his wife s modest acting and her desire to be a movie "star". Funds from tuition fees for students from mime schools were used, along with their use, free of charge, as actors or extras. The "Clipa Film" society produced using this manner of finance the films "Iadeş" (1926), "Iancu Jianu" (1927), "Haiducii" (1929), "Ciocoii" (1930). Other films like "Sin" (1924), directed by Jean Mihail (debut), "Manase" (1925), also directed by Jean Mihail, "Legenda celor două cruci", "Vitejii neamului" (1926), "Năpasta" (1927), "Maiorul Mura" (1928), directed by Jean Georgescu and Ion Timuş resorted to improvised means of finance. There were also production companies like "Soremar" who made documentaries and news, and also artistic movies like "Symphony of Love" (1928), directed by Ion Şahighian (shot in studios in Vienna), "Ecaterina Teodoroiu" directed by Niculescu- Brună and the screening of Caragiale's novella "An Easter Torch". The last form of financing adopted at that time was the call to foreign producers or directors, receiving substantial subsidies from the Romanian state, produced films in all sorts of "national" coproductions. That was the case for " Ţigăncuşa de la iatac " ( German-Dutch-Romanian coproduction), " Drumul iertării" ( Franco-Romanian coproduction) and " Venea o moară pe Siret " ( German-Romanian coproduction). The common feature of most of these silent films (and others not mentioned here) was the precariousness of all technical means, which challenged the imagination, ingenuity and inventiveness resources of the authors and their collaborators. We reviewed the majority of silent films made between 1923 and 1930 to highlight the enthusiasm and passion of the film pioneers of Romanian cinema, despite media often rudimentary and insufficient, total disinterest of the state at that time for the newborn art: The film was considered a minor distraction. Exceeded by all sorts of shortcomings, it was hard to ask those enthusiasts to be aware of technical and artistic novelties across the West, to succeed with dizzying speed. Among those novelties was "sound". 35

36 Sound Film in Romania Result of inventive genius, hard work and perseverance of generations of technicians, the emergence of "sound" in the movie was a true "revolution", both technically and aesthetically. In Bucharest, the "sound" movie falls like a thunderbolt, with disastrous consequences for all those who hoped, after so many years of struggle, to create a national cinema. After the period, although the unfavorable conditions of all kinds, the production of silent films is boosted (around 30), but the emergence of "sound", and the high costs required by the new technology will determine a powerful rebuff. Jean Mihail descrie astfel conjunctura apariţiei pe ecranele capitalei a primului film sonor: "On 26 October 1929, the <Trianon> cinema presented the first sound film that came to Bucharest The Crazy Singer - with Al. Jolson. In the last days of the year, the film continues to run, beating all records of a film program. Such a success stimulated other halls. One by one, <Capitol>, <Marna>, <Vox>, <Select> and others cinemas closed for installation of new sound equipment and reopened after a few weeks, each equipped with different equipment announced as <the most improved>. There was a feverish race to which the public responded with a tireless curiosity. Reliving the atmosphere of the time of the first Lumière shows, people thronged, discussed, compared and looked excited or disappointed. But one thing was clear: the public was no longer interested by silent films." (Mihail: 1967, p 16) In such an atmosphere, the few Romanian filmmakers who produced in recent years had reason to be confused. All possibilities to present silent films disappeared as the theaters in the center were equipped for sound and the audience gave their adherence to the new genre of films. "No donor would be risking money in a silent film, to be unveiled somewhere in a small periphery theatre remained faithful to its ancient device..." New big problems appeared after the emergence of "sound" and not only for us, in Romania, but for the entire world of cinema. Problems posed by the introduction of sound in film were primarily of economicfinancial reason, special investment were required by the new technologies, more difficult, if not impossible to bear not by the big Western production companies, or by theatre owners but by "small" filmmakers that had not finance. It was the case for our little group of film enthusiast authors in Romania. On the other hand, the new emerging method had big aesthetic implications, for developing new questions on the filmic expression of the new circumstances, when theorists had just found answer to the problem of the silent film. Attitude "for" or "against" the new method of cinematic expression led to fierce controversy among authors and film theorists everywhere, many of them anathematizing "sound" as a destroyer of silent film art achievements and failing to recognize its expressive value. It was known at the time the full or partial lack of backup towards "sound" of large creative minds such as Chaplin, Pudovkin, Eisenstein or René Clair. As always, the new, the fear of the unknown says its word. But the mentioned controversies have a positive role. Over time these lead to clarifications, to changes in the playing style of actors: abandonment of theatricalism, of excessive mimic, proximity to the natural, the natural interpretation. All these aesthetic requirements did not endanger the Romanian film, at most these could change its face. The greatest dangers came from special technical requirements imposed by the sound film, which meant nothing but money and more money. If until now filming in Romania could take place most often in improvised locations found in makeshift conditions rarely disposing of adequate space for interior shots (spacious homes or theatre stages), now appeared a new, unknown, necessary condition: soundproofing the respective room, creating "studio" acoustic conditions, which required significant investment ten times higher than those needed to produce a silent film studio. Not to mention the shooting and sound capture-recording technology. The existent filming equipment in Romania in 1930 could be seen as 36

37 outdated, primitive, not fulfilling none of the conditions of filming with simultaneous recording sound (no noise, synchronicity). And sound recording was an absolutely unknown chapter, both technologically and regarding staff familiar with these procedures. The costs of sound filming-recording equipment was prohibitive for the financial possibilities of production, far exceeding the total budget of one of the most expensive silent films ever made in Romania. That is why the appearance of the first western sound films in Romanian cinemas had a damaging effect of lightning in the early months of 1930, when no Romanian film is no longer screened. However, in the latter part of that year two sound films in the Romanian language appear. These are the movies "Ciuleandra" , directed by the German Martin Berger and "Paramount Parade" , directed by Jack Salvatori. But these were not Romanian films, but Romanian versions of foreign films, even if the first one has a Romanian topic. "Ciuleandra" was a German production carried out in two versions: Romanian and German. "Paradise Paramount", an international production of much larger scale, was produced in 13 language versions: French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Czechoslovakian, Polish, Hungarian, Serbian and Romanian. These are added the English original. To ensure text adaptation in Romanian and its utterance, the deputy director of Paramount Studios in Joinville, France (The film was shot at Paramount Paris) hired in Bucharest the playwright Nicolae Vlădoianu and the actor Ion Iancovescu. In silent film, the existing dialogues were concentrated in written inserts in the original language that could easily be replaced by others, translated and written in the country where the movie was to be released. This ensures fast penetration of silent films in the third markets comprehension without problems by spectators of the content of inserts. The sound film gives up the inserts, communication between characters is now verbal, the spectator understands the dialogue as long as the audience knows the language spoken. Problems of dialogue perception or any form of oral exposure occurs when the movie is exported to areas other than that of the language in which it was made. Not having inserts, the problem is complicated. Solutions are of two kinds: - Adoption of subtitles that translate and expose at the bottom of the screen the content of the original text. - Adoption of the dubbing of voices of the original actors with voices that speak the language of the area where the movie is released. Although currently subtitles are almost universally prevalent, at that time (the 30s), it was considered inappropriate. In time, it proved far superior to dubbing, ensuring the conservation of sound expression, vocal and interpretative peculiarities of actors, unaltered perception of the original "sound" of the film, its emotional load, with a price however: that of reducing the visual perception, due to its dissemination on two levels: the content of the frame and the content of the subtitled text. Dubbing can be blamed of major aesthetic changes related to the voice acting interpretative substance, emotion the utterance and voice features of the actors. These things cripple the whole personality of actors, fact hard to accept today. In addition, the preservation of meaning, the "perfume" of lines in the new adapted version of the text is a problem, with synchronization often poor. However, in the '30s, after the appearance of the sound film and even later, dubbing, as sound technique, was widely adopted. As I mentioned above, after 1930 there is a strong rebound of the Romanian film production due to the appearance of "sound". The Romanian state, the only potential investor, is indifferent to the dispel of the hopes of Romanian filmmakers to produce a film under the new conditions which required significant funding. This triggers the reaction of the "Cinema" magazine from October , which under the title "Who We Pay Taxes For" critically remarks: "The government never supported the initiative of domestic producers in order to ease their path and maybe that's why today we don t have a single studio in the entire country. Why didn t the state help Romanian producers? No money! Permit us a question: for the famous specialists from abroad, because they are unable to produce anything in their own country, are the funds sufficient? 37

38 It is about those who, for a mock movie with the title <Roumanie, terre d'amour> (like in Romania we only make love) were able to pump a few million from the state treasury... The lowest amateur film made in our country, with a capital of 150,000 lei is preferable to this sound production worth millions made with money mercilessly squeezed from citizens." And yet, the Romanian state was the only way out of the crisis of the lack of necessary funds for Romanian film. Luck has it that in 1933, Alexander Mavrodi, scholar, becomes State sub secretary at the Minister Council Presidency, with responsibilities regarding Romanian values and political system propaganda. As means of propaganda he had available the press and radio, with another two to be established: tourism and cinema. The "National Cinema Fund" law which created source of investment needed to build the Bod broadcasting station, was due to him. This will soon be an inspiration point for Ion I. Cantacuzino a great admirer and supporter of Romanian cinema, for the proposal and establishment of the "National Cinema Fund Law." I do not want to develop a long chapter, but you must remember that in 1934, Ion I. Cantacuzino, in his statement aimed towards Alexandru Mavrodi proposes to organize a film industry after 4 major commands, among which that of dubbing foreign films, with a requirement that a certain percentage of imported films have to be dubbed in Romanian. Three of the commands are accepted by Alexandru Mavrodi, leaving into discussion the one about dubbing because of his reserves regarding aesthetic. These concerns were shared by Ion I. Cantacuzino, the author of the statement, but he considers it an "useful introduction to create jobs for many actors, who then had a difficult life, in order to use this technique to train specialized personnel and especially to facilitate the dissemination of foreign films in the country. Because the root of the problem was here. A movie in Romanian would have been more sought than the original version with subtitles. Multiplication of films in Romanian means multiplication of spectators. We were also faced with the problem of increasing the number of theatres. And this increase could only be ensured by creating a more larger audience who would request and impose the existence of many theatres. But how to create this public other than by encouraging interest in cinema? Where to awaken this interest than in those areas where a foreign film, of which they did not understand a thing, and whose subtitles very often were not read, could not attract them? But increasing the number of spectators, as well as increasing the number of theatres ensure an increase in the number of imported films. More viewers and thus more movies meant more money for the <National Cinema Fund>. Only for the principle of integrity of the whole, seen as a national policy to film, I added dubbing to my project... " (Cantacuzino: 1997, p. 54) Thus, in 1934, attempts more or less continuous were made for Romanian dubbing, of which is worth mentioning the participation of London British firm - Gaumont which sent in the country excellent equipment for recording sound on optical medium, called British - Acoustic. This is installed in a small soundproof studio located at Radu Voda Str. and the Italian Pietro Moccia (owner) proceeds dubbing into Romanian the English film "Evergreen", directed by Ion Şahighian. Dubbing succeeds in an excellent artistic and technical condition. The premises are set for permanent activity and training of local teams specializing in sound technology but the Romanian state does not accept the request of the Italian of being granted compulsory percentage of foreign films dubbed in Romanian. Following this refusal, the Italian company returns the equipment to London, sells the "Frascatti" hall on Calea Victoriei which he owned and returns to his home country. Only a few years later, with the establishment of O.N.C. (National Cinema Office) and the Wilson Street studio construction, the operation of dubbing becomes permanent, especially for newsreels and documentaries. Dubbing was one of the first specific sound techniques applied in Romania after the silent film. Of the 16 sound films that are produced in Romania between 1930 and 1939, the majority are Romanian versions of foreign films made in Paris, Prague and Budapest. There are also several Romanian silent films with partial sound made abroad, of which I 38

39 mention the creation of Ion Brună, Ecaterina Teodoroiu, produced by "Soremar Film" company. Because as of 1930 it was nearly impossible to present a silent film, "Ecaterina Teodoroiu" was edited in Berlin with an appropriate music for sound battle scenes and sounds synchronized, which saved the movie. Another film, still silent, of the "Clipa Film" society that produced "Iancu Jianu" and "Haiducii" was "Ciocoii", the end of the mentioned trilogy. For the same reasons, this film has adapted a "sound accompaniment on disks, with Romanian symphonic music, leaf and pipe songs, and a <Foreigner s Song> at the end that explain the subtitle and justify the name of sound film. (Jean Mihail) The film premiered in May 1931 and was successful both in the capital and later in the province. "Chemarea dragostei" directed by Jean Mihail, filmed in 1931, also had a similar sound treatment, receiving a soundtrack, sound effects and songs. It was edited in Budapest at "Hunnia Film" studio but using Kofaton devices "Kovacs and Faludi" company. In the harsh conditions of the years , the "Clipa Film" company that managed to create a new capital put into production the movie " Insula Şerpilor ", a film inspired by reality, by the adventures of Terente, bandit who reigned the ponds of Brăila. From this article s point of view, this film is important because its sound system was made entirely in Romania and even more than that, on original devices built "by a young Romanian engineer, specialist in radio, engineer Gartenberg-Argani"(Jean Mihail). Argani's machines were far from perfect, with particular problems in synchronization of sound and images, which seriously delayed the film s premiere until the summer of It is the last production of the Clipa Film society which dissolves. Starting to like working in cinema, engineer Argani soon became not only the sound engineer but also the producer of a new film, in collaboration with the Vasilache and Stroe couple, which would ensure the script, direction and acting interpretation. The film, comedy-musical, was called "Bing- Bang". Being poorly voiced, engineer Argani had trouble programming the premiere eventually held in February 1935, on the boulevard, at the "Arpa"cinema, which was the smallest poorly technically equipped hall. However, the film enjoyed great success. In historiography, "Bing-Bang" is considered the first truly Romanian sound film. This was followed, in chronological order, by the production in Romania of the following feature films: Doamna de la etajul doi ]DIVA FILM production, directed by Dezideriu Major, music by Max Halm, sound by Alexander Stapler Poveste tristă produced by DACIA FILM, directed by Cornel Dumitrescu. - O noapte de pomină a CIRO FILM production, directed by Ion Şahighian. Sound feature film, recorded mostly live, in studio. Music by Paul Constantinescu. Sound is not mentioned. - Se aprind făcliile produced by DACIA FILM, directed by Ion Şahighian, music by C. Bobescu, sound by Frantz von Orban Focuri sub zăpadă produced by Constantin Bondoc, directed by Marin Iorda, sound by Anton Bielusici and Lohan. - O noapte furtunoasă produced by O.N.C. (Cinema National Office), directed by Jean Georgescu, music by Paul Constantinescu, sound by Anton Bielusici, Victor Cantuniari, George Mărăi Pădurea îndrăgostiţilor a DOINA FILM production, directed by Cornel Dumitrescu, music by Ion Dumitrescu, sound by George Mărăi. - Visul unei nopţi de iarnă produced by CINEROMIT, directed by Jean Georgescu, music by Nicolae Kirculescu, sound by Anton Bielusici, Victor Cantuniari, George Mărăi. The specificity of this article led me not to mention in the above list the other filmmakers. In terms of the soundtrack, those referred wore responsibility for creating it. The Romanian versions of foreign films I do not think are relevant from the point of view of this article. It must however be emphasized the special quality of their soundtrack. In fact, it shouldn t surprise us: their soundtrack was made in professional studios, by trained technicians familiar with the best sound equipment at the time. 39

40 Equipment that in 1930 s Romania were inexistent. The Romanian press of the time, aiming with constant interest early indigenous sound films remarks and comments on various aspects of production and aesthetic, including those relating to novelty, the sound. Comments, opinions, judgments, often contradictory, sometimes more or less partisan, but always interested in the development of Romanian film. They emphasize two fundamental directions of sound in film: - Technical objectification, that efforts to create advanced technological support necessary to achieve soundtrack. - Aesthetic objectification phase involving metamorphosis of sound as a physical phenomenon in expressive category with aesthetic value in film language. Expressions and concepts present in media comments such as "Kofaton system", " Vibratograph system ", "Argani system", " Tobis-Klang-Film system ", " Cineglow record lamp", "additional ways of mixing", "microphones", "switchers", "mixer", "battery", "acoustic boxes", " mirror oscillographs " and so on, show concern, interest, creative effervescence of local technicians to design and master the sound recording and processing technologies. Also "lamentable sound", "sound achievement", "poor sound", "good sound", "sound is not developed enough, "local dialogue color", "lyricism and exoticism of language", " hermetic character and mystery", "dry dialogue", "lack of progress dialog, brevity and spontaneity", "artificial, empty and inexpressive phrases", "simple dialogue", "silence is so eloquent", "unnatural speech of the actors", finding just tone", " acoustic hopelessness", "sounds, music and words on the same level" are phrases and concepts that actually reveal an interesting fact, the appearance of aesthetic judgment on film sound components as well as its whole. More elusive or more accurate, "soft" or "percussive" the above mentioned expressions prove the emergence of critical attitude towards sound. It most certainly does not go unnoticed. And music, irreplaceable component of Romanian film sound at that time, is also mentioned, commented, considered more or less. In comperage form or original music, it brings to the viewer's ears creations of universal or Romanian musical literature. Big name musicians like Eduard Caudella, George Enescu, Paul Constantinescu, Ion Dumitrescu, Nicolae Kirculescu, Nicolae Stroe şi Vasile Vasilache, Grigoraş Dinicu, Ion Vasilescu, Marţian Negrea, Sabin Drăgoi, Constantin Bobescu, Constantin Bugeanu and others are present on the generics of vintage films. Unfortunately, as we move away from the first emergence of sound in Romanian film, the more technical means and skills of its technicians enable superior performance and expressive nuance and diversification of sound elements increases, paradoxically, entries, comments, judgments of the press becomes scarcer. Perhaps the newcomer, sound, is no longer new. He finally joins the other expressive categories of the film and becomes common. Even after sixteen years after the appearance sound film in Romania and of the article from the October 1, 1930 entitled "Who we pay taxes for?" let s see what the same magazine "Cinema" writes in its no of 1946: "We have no solid film production, we have no skilled cinema technicians, no tools needed, but, thank God, Romanian films are still produced from time to time. For while the officials maintain a strict neutrality, private initiative is working diligently to raise the much awaited symbolic edifice of the local film industry. This can only make us happy and arouse admiration for these brave pioneers who with black market purchased materials, with technicians employed abroad with borrowed studios have managed to create Romanian films and echo on the screen the ancestral speech... If only for this one merit, film strips arising from the sentimentality of idealists (we can t speak of material fruit int the circumstances of today) they should still be encouraged at least with a kind word... " In fact, the key issues to be solved at the time to consolidate a cinema which could offer a professional working environment at least decent, including film sound, were as follows: - Ensuring stable funding coverage. - Creation of a coordinating body of film activity 40

41 - Building a specialized studio and technical equipment adequate to professional standards. - Qualified local staff. In terms of sound, technical objectivity, meaning building a specialized studio, technical equipment and appropriate training of specialists are key priorities. If fiction sound film production was sporadic in the analyzed period ( ), the number of films being a bit smaller, more prodigious was the activity in the short film: newsreels and documentaries. INDROFILM SONOR ( ) newsreels until 1935, when it dissolves. In 1936 the National Tourist Office is born, and in its service it also creates a Cinema Service which buys a jeep equipped with optical sound recording facility TOBIS KLANG FILM type. Soon documentaries made by ONT start being produced, some in collaboration with the "Tobis" house in Berlin, and others PATHÉ" in Paris. The first production apperas, " Ţara Moţilor". Meanwhile, in 1937, Wilson Street studio is being build and ONT go to the newly created Ministry of Propaganda, the Cinema Service becoming the Cinema Division (1938). It was divided into three services: Censorship of movies service, Authorization and control of halls service and Production service. This, the last one, dealing with the implementation of newsreels and documentaries is named "THE NATIONAL CINEMA OFFICE" shortly ONC Officials gave in fascist period of the country great importance to news productions, importance that increases further once the reunification war began in And fiction film coexists with newsreel and documentary in the ONC production, but in an amount unsatisfactory to Romanian cinema enthusiasts. Referring to the book "Sound Cinema" ( ), sections "documentary and advertising film ", " News Journals " and "News Journal " it can be concluded that the documentary and news journals were the first option in the production of films of those times, after the development of sound. Returning to the desire to create a modern technical base, we remember the endeavors of I.I. Cantacuzino, Jean Mihail and Paul Bejan to buy the INDROFILM SONOR society, the filming camera from Bell & Howell report with CINEGLOW amp sound recorder, camera that " avoided the duplication of copying and facilitated transportation, all equipment being quite easy"*. (Over the years, this camera will shoot - record the famous marshal Antonescu and rest of the state processes). (Mărăi, Gheorghe apud Cantacuzino: 1997) Also on this line, we remember the ONT purchase in 1936 of a KLANG TOBIS FILM sound machine, machine that has honored its special services several years even after 1950, in the studios of Buftea. This machine had a rough life, as I was told in detail by George Mărăi, pioneer of the Romanian cinema sound. In 1937, thanks to the technician Tudor Posmantir and money from the American Richman, arises the Romanian company named " CINEGRAFIA română s.a.r." or, abbreviated, "CIROFILM" whose paid-up capital of five million lei was distributed in an overwhelming proportion (four million lei) for the construction and equipping of a modern laboratory, located on the Mogoşoaia road and that could execute all specific film works at a standard quality similar to that of laboratories of western European major studios. The lab could develop and copy over 10,000 meters of film every day, including sound negative and positive. It was huge, it was fabulous for that time. In addition, familiarizing workers and their improvement in photo processes, working with related technology, has led to a generation of specialists in laboratory work that would last in the years after At the end of 1939 the ONC studio on Wilson Street is finalized, being equipped with filming, lighting, editing positivenegative, synchronous projection, recording, playback and sound mixing equipment. Let s see the machines and devices for projection-sound that equipped the Sound Office established by I.I. Cantacuzino in the Wilson Street studio: - 1 unit of AEG German manufactured synchronous projection device. This device was used for all projections that were necessary for the production. - 2 (two) AEG German manufactured optical film phonographs on which optical strips were mounted (dialogue, music, noise) for mixing. 41

42 - Three sound channel mixer that actually equipped the TOBIS KLANG FILM car. For mixing it was removed from the car and placed in the mixing booth. Subsequently, the three sound channels which were not enough for a feature film receive another 2 from engineer Anton Bielusici, with the support of George Mărăi, built through personal effort of the latter. - Mobile booth, soundproof, with an area of about two square meters, equipped with a dynamic microphone with a view through a Cyclops on screen. - A reverberation chamber egg-shaped, located below the floor of the small sound studio. TOBIS KLANG FILM car was structured in: - Optical sound recording camera. - Three channel mixer - DC-AC three-phase switcher that allowed the synchronized functioning of the optical camera recording sound with an exterior camera. - Lead acid high capacity battery, the power source for the entire system. - Microphone cables - Cables for connection to camera - RAUM-microphone, condenser microphone German manufactured, highly sensitive for recording direct outlet or interviews, noise etc. Romanian technicians acquire the necessary skills from the foreign sound specialist (Adolphe Fontanel) who, according to I.I. Cantacuzino (1997), was not too keen on sharing his knowledge with others to avoid losing work. Thus a triad of sound engineers is formed: Anton Bielusici, Victor Cantuniari and George Mărăi, who henceforth will sign the soundtrack to many of the feature or short films, both at ONC and later, after 1950 at the Buftea and Al. Sahia studios. All work specific for short or featurelength sound film becomes possible with the entry into operation of the ONC Wilson Street studio. Commentary recordings, synchronous recordings of dialogue, set and field interviews, music recordings, transposition of music and noise, noise and music montage, dubbing, sound reverberation and mixing are now done here. Mixing possibilities are not great, but at the time three independent channels for mixing was something outstanding. And everything was optical, of course, requiring attention, skill and craftsmanship. The mixing once started, did not allow any mistakes until the end of the coil (10 minutes!), which is more difficult to obtain since the recording was made during the commentary. A simple sound error by the announcer or sound engineer led to rebuting the negative, the mixing support. And that was very expensive. Music and noise archives were created, all on optical film. The collaboration between composers Paul Constantinescu, Ion Dumitrescu and musical director Theodor Mitache is wel known in order to achieve the music of many vintage films but to also enrich the sound library. Moreover, following the completion in 1941 of the agreement with UFA Berlin regarding the news journal, it provided the ONC with an "archive of noise and sounds" coming to complement and diversify the existing music library in Bucharest. From the point of view of the sound system, decent technical objectivity ended by creating an acceptable technical infrastructure and by the formation of sound film suitably qualified experts. After watching several coils and discussing with George Mărăi, with whom I talked a lot, I can say that newsreels made at that time, for that matter, and later, after 1950, were simple in terms of sound structure. A commentary, whose density was often high, generally present music from start to finish (sometimes one subject did not contain music) a noise here and there, most often asynchronous, and, whenever necessary, loop applause. It must be said that the comment was often too full of text, redundant, and the announcer was tributary to theatrical declamation, but always correct. Music was often suitable for subjects treated in the journal, mostly symphonic genre and much less jazz or entertainment. The main voice for speaking sound text journals from 1936 to 1944 belongs to Gheorghe Soare, incisive voice, after the change of the political regime, his vocal appearances being much less numerous, his place being taken by Virgil Popovici. Regarding the documentary, diversification is evident, both regarding the musical palette used and announcer voices 42

43 that speak the text. It was normal. Wide spread themes and topics involved these efforts. The voices mostly belong to Gheorghe Soare ( Ajutorul de iarnă 1941, directed by Ştefan Dominokovski, Strângeţi bani albi pentru zile negre 1941, directed by Jean Georgescu, Mândra noastră ţară 1941, directed by Paul Călinescu, Căderea Sevastopolului 1942, directed by Constantin Panţu, Datini de Crăciun 1942, directed by I.I. Cantacuzino, Zburătorii României 1942, directed by commander Al. Demetrescu etc.), Nicolae Brancomir ( Castelul Peleş 1941, directed by I.I. Cantacuzino, Balta paradisului pescarilor 1943, directed by Ulrich Kayser, Dunărea clădeşte şi distruge 1943, directed by Ulrich Kayser, Pelicanii 1943, directed by Ulrich Kayser, Spre biruinţă 1943, directed by Cornel Dumitrescu, Tigări 1943, directed by Amedée Morrin etc.)*, Virgil Popovici ( Dâmboviţa apă dulce 1943, directed by Pietro Benedetti, Crescătărie de crabi şi păstrăvi 1943, directed by Ion Cosma Ovidiu Gologan, O zi în tabăra jandarmilor pedeştri 1943, directed by Traian Popescu Tracipone, Porţelanul românesc 1943, directed by Ion Cosma, Sanatoriul Moroieni 1943, directed by Valeriu Puşcariu, Atenţiune, fragil! 1944, directed by Paul Călinescu, Dobrogea 1944, directed by Paul Călinescu etc. (Râpeanu: 1975). After 1944, he remains the voice behind Romanian documentary films. Much less frequent are the voices of M.V. Puşcariu ( Ţara Moţilor 1939, directed by Paul Călinescu) and Teodor Frăţilă ( Grădinile capitalei 1943, directed by Cornel Dumitrescu, Ultima coborâre 1943, directed by Ştefan Dominikovski). A special mention has to be made regarding Marcel Gingulescu, narrator of the documentary Războiul nostru sfânt 1942, directed by I.I. Cantacuzino, film sound edited with great accuracy by Anton Bielusici and George Mărăi, elaborate, complex sound, nothing less impressive than that of an action film. After 1944, the voice that is heard in "The indictment of the first group of war criminals" is that of Dumitru Bărbulescu, accented voice of "proletarian anger" that speaks in a accusing maner the political text produced on this occasion. In all the vintage documentaries, the predominant acoustic element, due to its outstanding expressive vector ability was music. In fact, after 1950, the Romanian short film appeals in all divisions of the genre to this particular expressive component, which together with words, sounds and ambience creates the cinematic sound universe. The music of vintage films, short and feature films, as comperage or original creation belonging to Romanian and foreign composers contributed directly to the artistic, aesthetic education of the audience and the development of artistic taste, which is not to be neglected considering the poor education conditions of the Romanian population at that time. Simply hearing a beautiful comment, the right phrase, uttered by stamped voices, with well written or chosen music, an expressive sound or an eloquent ambiance, certainly led to the creation of preconditions for acquiring acoustic culture, of the needed comparison terms for the judgment of sound aesthetic. We stop with references regarding technical objectification around 1950 whereas things become normal, the performed equipment and also the ones to follow offering wonderful opportunities to highlight the sound component of the film. References Cantacuzino, I.I. (1997). Întâlniri cu cinematograful Editura Alo, Bucureşti Bucureşti, Cantacuzino, I.I. (1965) Momente din trecutul filmului românesc. Bucureşti: Editura Meridiane. Cantacuzino, I.I. (1998) Producţia cinematografică din România Filmografia adnotată -II- Cinematograful sonor , Filmul de ficţiune. Bucureşti: Editura Alo Căliman, Călin (1967). Filmul documentar românesc. Bucureşti: Editura Meridiane. Davidescu, Georgeta (1977) Producţia cinematografică din România Filmografia adnotată -II- Cinematograful sonor, Filmul de nonficţiune, Jurnalul românesc de actualităţi Bucureşti: Arhiva Naţională de Filme. 43

44 Mateescu, Dan (1975) Producţia cinematografică din România Filmografia adnotată -II- 1 Cinematograful sonor Filmul de nonficţiune Jurnalul de actualitati Bucureşti: Arhiva Naţională de Filme. Mihail, Jean (1967) Filmul românesc de altădată. Bucureşti: Editura Meridiane. Râpeanu, Bujor (1975) Producţia cinematografică din România Filmografia adnotată -II- Filmul de nonficţiune, filmul documentar şi publicitar. Bucureşti: Arhiva Naţională de Filme. 44

45 II. Cultural Studies Women RE-DRESSING IDENTITY: MARIA ANTOINETTE AND FRIDA KAHLO Professor BARBARA A. NELSON* University of Bucharest Abstract. Female identity is intricately and intimately tied to dress. Virginia Woolf was one of the first female intellectuals to publicly challenge the tendency to denigrate women s fashion or to banished it to the margins. Three recent films which focus on female historical figures continue to redress this problem. They argue for the essential nature of attire and the decorative arts for women, women of very different temperaments and of very different epocs, though they specifically focus on Marie Antoinette and Frida Kahlo. In all the films discussed in the following paper, dress marks symbolic sites of cultural interface-- social, international and gender which must be negotiated in the course of shaping female identity. Introduction Two * recent films which take Marie Antoinette as their subject one directed by a male and the other by a female--are Farewell, my Queen (2012), by Benoit Jaquot and starring Diane Kruger and Marie Antoinette (2006) directed by Sofia Coppola, featuring Kirsten Dunst. While both remind viewers that clothing is not exclusively a woman s domain, female dress is the focus of each film. In choosing the Queen as their subject, these films cannot help but evoke thoughts of dress as destiny, given Antoinette s demise in * Barbara Nelson is currently professor at the University of Bucharest. She is the former Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission and a two-time recipient of a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award. In the United States she taught at The University of Michigan and Michigan State University. Articles Include: Cinematic Memory and the Americanization of the Holocaust, Journal of Romanian Studies. Timisoara, Romania, Ed. University of the West, 2012; The Contribution of Hollywood to the Birth of a Romanian Sound Film Industry, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, London, Ed. Routledge, 2011; Faces of Jane Eyre, Journal of Research in Gender Studies. New York: Addleton Academic Press, 2011; Dissent and Its Discontents. Constan_a, Romania, Ed. Romanian American Studies 2011; A Savage Journey Into the Heart of the American Dream, Seoul, Korean: American Studies Association Conference Proceeding, 2010 and Hollywood s Struggle for Romania Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, London, Ed. Routledge, the public imagination is often tied as closely to her excessive sartorial consumption as to her legendary phrase Let Them Eat Cake. In Farewell, my Queen, as the title suggests, Marie Antoinette is presented through the eyes of an other, Marie s reader, a type of maid to the Queen. Thus Benoit s film brings class, as well gender issues, to bear on the relationship between dress and female identity. Coppola s film, while also interested in these issues encompasses an even broader reach. Globalization and international cultural interfaces, which figure so prominently in her previous cinematic success, Lost in Translation (2003), are again evident. The broad-based significance of dress and female identity presented in Coppola s Marie Antoinette is also apparent in Frida (2002). The evolution of Frida Kahlo, the infamous twentieth-century modernist artist is the subject of Julie Taymor s film, featuring Salma Hayek. Stemming from a Mexican- German heritage and an upper-class upbringing, Frida became a great champion of indigenous Mexican culture and the common people. This was reflected in her dress which was tied to native traditions which eschewed capitalistic influence from former colonial rulers across the border. This stands as a contrast to the story of Marie Antoinette who took refuge in materialism. Dress for Kahlo was self-selected, for Marie 45

46 Antoinette, it was imposed, but subsequently, transformed into her own. Interestingly, the films mentioned above, criticized for the superficiality and/or marginalized for their beauty, should also be films which interrogate concepts of the gaze, and visual pleasure, thus probing aesthetic theories. Coppola s engagement with the topic can be traced back to her twelve-minute student production Lick the Star. (Kennedy 42.) This first short film was a homage to and an inversion of Truffaut s Les quatre cents coups (1959). Marie Antoinette Farewell, my Queen offers viewers a luscious historical costume drama. The sartorial theme of the film is reinforced by its decorative beauty and its slow pacing which enable ample time to relish its rich detail. The queen is shown taking refuge and comfort, from time to time, in her book, a large volume of textures and fabrics. Viewers obtain a unique perspective of this famous/infamous personality through the eyes of, Sidonie Laborde, a loyal servant to the Queen, in the last days of her short life. The power of dress is reaffirmed as the film moves toward its concluding sequence which is reminiscent of a female version of Gogol s The Overcoat, with a few additional twists. In this sequence, Sidonie is asked to assume the costume of the Countess Gabrielle Polignac, Marie Antoinette s female friend and suggested love interest, a cold, self-consciously decadent personage, perhaps more detested by the masses than Antoinette herself. In some historical accounts, it was Marie s insistence upon Gabrielle s presence in court and the advantages bestowed on her which fueled the public s negativity toward the Queen. Marie devises a ruse to save the countess s life but at the cost of her maid s. In agreeing to assume the costume of this lady of royal rank, Sidonie shows the same devotion to the queen she has shown throughout the film: she is willing to sacrifice all for her. Fulfilling the queen s desire is a poignantly rendered moment: whereas the maid feels a deep loyalty to the Queen, the latter views Sidonie as a disposable, thus contributing to the further condemnation of Antoinette. In a surprising turn of events, however, the new attire imbues Sidonie, like Gogol s character, with a new identity. The royal dress allows her to ascend to a level of selfconfidence, pride, and self-assurance heretofore unseen. Ironies abound in Benoit s treatment of this transformation. Refusing to be dictated to, Sidonie, taunts fate and increases audience apprehension by flaunting herself in her new costume. However, in spite of this, Sidonie, surprisingly, escapes death. The dress more or less imposed on her seems to possess almost magical properties. While dress is still presented as essential to female identity in Coppola s version of Maria Antoinette, it assumes broader significance. One of the most memorable cinematic scenes of this director s rendering is Marie s sartorially transformation from young Viennese girl to future Dauphine of France. This is staged in a tent pitched in the middle of a forest--a type of changing station. Antoinette enters the tent in Viennese attire, is stripped naked and redressed in the garments of the French court. This film presages, through the imposed identity in this opening transformational ritual, the confining trajectory Antoinette s life story will take, a story, at once, of a specific historical personage and one that transcends an individual, commenting on female development more widely. Within her tightly circumscribed space, Antoinette will gain the confidence to assert herself and find a form of self-expression, through the decorative means available to her. She uses dress and accessory to make her life tolerable, changing identities from dutiful wife, shepardess in court dramas, to mistress. Masquerade, like the ball which she persuades her circle of friends to attend, provides freedom and control the only power, and agency, available to her (Kennedy 54). Tony Kenny further suggests in Off with Hollywood s Head: Sofia Coppola as Feminine Auteur that it is through the decorative arts that Coppola creates a new female form of scopophilia in Marie 46

47 Antoinette, a sense of pleasure which differs from the concept traditionally defined in Laura Mulvey s seminal study Visual Pleasure in Narrative Cinema. Who can deny the pleasure/ beauty of Coppola s film with a mise-en-scene so exquisitely composed and edited and with such lush detail. The same could be said of Benoit s film. Coppola draws attention to her work as a tableux, as Kenny maintains. She accomplishes this by holding a pose for a moment or two longer than usual, transforming it into a still life or artistic painting. Coppola also impeccably juxtaposes costume and interiors so that they suddenly melt into one another, forming a fluidity in which individuality and environment become one. A noticeable example of the latter, occurs at the moment of Antoinette s great despair, a moment when she becomes defenseless against accusations she is not feminine enough to bear an heir, a moment when Coppola s fashionable subject paradoxically dissolves and yet is most exquisitely present and visible. Coppola s style has been dismissed, not perhaps surprisingly, by serious film critics who condemn it as superficial, accusing it of being all surface, mere eye candy, even selfindulgent. Dana Stevens in Slate writes cinema is for [Sofia] Coppola a mirror in which she looks at herself, not a mirror she holds to the world. He calls her the privileged little girl in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory whose father, a nut tycoon, makes sure his daughter wins a golden ticket. While Coppola s films are personal, personal cinema was considered a virtue, as Kennedy reminds us, for directors of the French New Wave whose works and male aesthetic Coppola invokes in order to reposition it as wholly feminine. She offers female pleasures of consumption a filmic point of view that portrays women as dominated by the environment surrounding them (40). In particular, Kennedy notes how Coppola reworks Francois Truffault s Les quatre cents coups and Jean-Luc Godard s Le mepris, asserting this new aesthetic. Laura Mulvey, agrees with feminist critic Claire Johnston, that a new female aesthetic must challenge the depiction of reality; that it is not enough to discuss the oppression of women within the text of the film; the language of the cinema/the depiction of reality must also be interrogated, so that a break between ideology and text is effected (37). However, Johnston, unlike Mulvey, does not see a necessary opposition between film as a political tool and film as entertainment (Kennedy 39-40). Coppola s work is not preoccupied with a guilty indulgence in consumerism or victimization, but rather, a new aesthetic as self-conscience as Antoinette s challenging gaze which is directed at the camera near the opening of the film (Bingham 405). Consumerism is acknowledged as an attraction but also as something involving resistance. Kennedy, drawing on the work of Tasker and Negra s image of postfeminist culture, argues Antoinette creates an empowered consumer (41). The basis of this power is discussed by Charlotte Brundson buying and putting on clothes, particularly in 1980s and 1990s Hollywood films, has to do with not just the performance of femininity but of different feminine identities (Kennedy 86). According to Kennedy, Coppola s women all struggle with expressing feminine agency in some form, thus they are often left to acts of consumption and leisure. In making the quest trope decidedly feminine by interrogating the methods and means by which women are constantly forced to consume (Kennedy 41) the director revises the traditional quest. When speaking of Marie Antoinette as revision, one needs also to pay attention to its opening and most memorable image of sartorial transformation. This perhaps references and overturns yet another male historical ritual of cultural transformation, one particularly well-known in Detroit, the birthplace of Sofia s father. This ritual, which was performed once a year, was instituted by Henry Ford, the inventor of the Model T and the assembly line, as a symbol of acculturation of his global work force. It required workers, dressed in their indigenous costumes, to jump into a huge-pot like structure, only to emerge a few minutes later dressed as true Americans. This ritual was 47

48 performed upon a worker s graduation from Henry Ford s English Language Institute. Gaining global attention as social engineering, the ritual was condemned by some as violating privacy and individual freedom, creating one monolithic form made in Ford s image. It was eventually discontinued. Imposed assimilation, while expected of women in the 1700 and 1800 and prized in the early twentieth century in fact Romania s Queen Elizabeth comments on this (Hannah Pakula 88-94)--is reexamined and repositioned by Coppola at the end of the century. While Marie Antoinette could, in one sense, be considered a historical costume drama in which dress and history are intricately linked, Coppola clearly breaks the illusion of historical accuracy, creating what Pam Cook calls a travesty (37) The director does this by introducing modern items into her frame and selecting a contemporary musical score. These updates emphasize presentism, a concept which Robert Burgoyne, relying on the scholarship of Hayden White, discusses in his introduction to The Hollywood Historical Film, a concept which insists upon the importance of the moment in which a film is produced. It argues traces of the moment of production will always be imprinted on a text. Frida Kahlo Another famous female personality for whom dress is crucial to identity and politics is Mexican artist Frida Kahlo; however, this figure stands as a contrast and complement to Coppola s Marie Antoinette. Frida depicts the development of a female artist who becomes the equal of her internationally celebrated husband, Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Block and Hoffman-Jeff, who have written extensively on Kahlo s work, note that although as a Mexican and a woman Kahlo represents a dual form of marginalization within the essentially patriarchal norms of modernism, she actually adds a third dimension to her representation of marginalization: a resolute association with indigenous culture, which she displays in nearly every photograph. (8). This is largely conveyed through dress. Frida s costume, which was self-selected, became a public statement symbolizing cultural resistance toward U.S. economic and cultural colonization (Mexicanidad). The above critics argue her self-portraits communicated Mexican revolutionary cultural tenets as clearly as did Rivera s murals. Whereas Coppola s Marie Antoinette resists being victimized by her consumerism/materialism, Kahlo resists commodification and capitalistic tendencies altogether. An interesting affinity and contrast exists between Antoinette s international transformational interface discussed above, and Kahlo s painting entitled Frida Kahlo: Self-Portrait on the Border Between Mexico and the United States (1932) which is detailed in Taymor s film. Frequently, this work of Kahlo s is coupled with another, namely, My Dress Hangs There (1933), sometimes called a coda to the former (Block and Hoffmann-Jeep 15). Both emphasize the importance of dress and the evolution of identity and persona. Self-Portrait on the Border marked an important transitional moment in Kahlo s own career. In it, she positions her subject-- commonly read as herself--in the center foreground on a low pedestal. She is wearing in a pink colonial dress (calling attention to her history as a Mexican colonial subject of the U.S. empire). The subject is flanked by two apparently different landscapes: one represents the U.S. and the other Mexico, in its Pre- Columbian days. The pedestal, on which Frida stands, is fed by both sides: by wires plugged into a generator, representing the US source of power and an alternative vegetative root system. To Frida s left are the industrial smokestacks bearing the letters FORD. And to her right, a natural landscape with Aztec construction and pre-hispanic artifacts, presided over by dueling gods: the white god Huitzilopochtli and his opponent Tezcatlipoca, represented by sun and moon (Kettenmann 29-30). This work was produced by Kahlo when she was in Detroit. She accompanied Diego who was hired to paint murals on the interior walls of the city s Art Institute in honor of Henry Ford s Rouge Complex, the largest assembly line in the world. This period marked a moment in Frida s life, when she signs paintress beside her name for the first 48

49 time. However, recognition of her incipient creativity by The Detroit News only came a year later, but even then, was presented with serious reservations, as she was noted to be a dabbling artist (February 22, 1933). It is also a period in which she suffered a second miscarriage, fostering new treatments in her pictures regarding the female body, violence/pain and identity. Although Frida Kahlo: Self-Portrait on the Border Between Mexico and the United States is depicted in Taymor s film, Frida s Detroit experiences are omitted or compressed with her other U.S. experiences in San Francisco and New York for reasons of length (Taymor, DVD interview). Two years prior to this, Kahlo had arrived in the US as the wife of the famous Diego Rivera who was commissioned to paint murals for the California School for the Arts, (now the San Francisco Institute of Art) and the Stock Exchange. Following Detroit, the couple went to New York where Diego was to work on murals at the Rockerfellow Center, murals later destroyed because he included a figure of Lenin. Frida was ambivalent about the U.S: Although I am very interested in all the industrial and mechanical development of the United States, I find that Americans completely lack sensibility and good taste The houses look like bread ovens and all the comfort that they talk about is a myth (Herrera 131; quoted in Taschen). Kahlo highlights her role as an intermediary figure in Frida Kahlo: Self-portrait on the Border. Although depicted in the foreground in a pink colonial dress, she is by no means a submissive post-colonial subject, as she stands with a cigarette in her lace-gloved hand. Her defiance and rebellion is said to have been evident even to the bottom of her petticoats which were embroidered with ribald Mexican sayings. Andre Breton once described her as a ribbon round a bomb. Critics argue that Frida s identity can be tracked by observing the evolution of her attire. Originally she donned a rebozo a rectangular woven shawl of cotton, wool or silk worn by Mexican women of all classes (10). She then assumed a proletarian air by assuming a plain rebozo draped in the revolutionary style of a soldaderas. She also wore a single-strand necklace of jadeite a green stone used by Aztec sculptors --bearing Aztec signs on it (Block and Hoffman-Jeep 9-10). And finally, Frida adopted the orthodox Tehuana costume. The importance of the dress of the Tehuantepic society was not just its matriarchal symbolism, but also its contrast to La Chingada the embodiment of Mexico s hybrid post-conquest, (violated) culture (Baddeley 13). As Baddeley makes clear, Kahlo s sojourn in the United States helped crystallize her self-image. To a friend she wrote, High society here turns me off and I feel a bit of rage against all these rich guys here, since I have seen thousands of people in the most terrible misery without anything to eat and with no place to sleep. (Herrera, 131). In My Dress Hangs There or New York, (1933), the second Kahlo picture referenced above, the U.S. masses and the statue of liberty are pushed out to the very margins of the frame, contributing to the work s overall sense of loss, which Baddeley argues is palpable (16). The Tehuantepec style dress, which hangs, empty, on a clothesline strung between a toilet and a golf trophy, reinforces this theme. It acts as a silent emblem of protest, along with the peeling poster of Mae West. This work indicts Gringoland ; Kahlo s former ambivalence is gone. (Baddeley 15). The Suicide of Dorothy Hale (1939), also referenced in Taymor s film, is yet another condemnation of capitalism. Hale, who lies on the ground, fashionably dressed, has apparently jumped from the skyscraper which stands behind her. The backstory of this work involves a real person whose lack of money and indulgence in fine attire led to her demise. Clare Boothe Luce, a famous wealthy writer/journalist and a friend of the subject, commissioned the picture, perhaps out of guilt for her mistaken and hypocritical denigration of Hale s spending habits. This work is thus a poignant image of the oppressive nature of the social values of New York and its consumerist culture (Baddeley 14). Yet Hale s dead corpse stares accusingly 49

50 out at viewers. There is agency here. It is not solely Hale, but the system, that should be judged. While Kahlo, as said before, was no admirer of U.S. female consumers, they admired and imitated her. The upper society of Detroit tried to emulate her fashion but Kahlo was not flattered; she found them ludicrous (Herrera p. 290, quoted in Baddeley 12). The elite fashion magazines such as Vogue (Feb 1990) and Elle (May 1989) designed photospreads around the artist. This trend continues even today as witnessed by the November 2012 Romanian edition of Marie Claire which promoted the Mexican Experience using models imitating Frida, albeit with certain modifications. As in the Vogue issues, the sexiness and exposure of body was in direct contradiction to Kahlo s intent. Kahlo s long dresses were worn, it was said, in part, to camouflage her disabilities. The fashion photos in the magazines just mentioned were often dramatically altered to reveal the ideal bodies of the models. Such fashion representations are often bemoaned or criticized on the grounds that Kahlo s Mexicanness has become depoliticized, turned into a mere decorative gloss and thus the bomb has been defused. As Baddeley notes, the inter-relationship of body and dress so self-consciously referred to in many of Kahlo s most polemical works has been strangely inverted by her current popularity. One cannot even claim, as Baddeley does, at least not based on the photospreads above, that the colonized body which Kahlo clothed in revolutionary idealism has lost its function as a symbol of nationhood and become instead an icon of female suffering (Baddeley 14 &16). Not even female suffering is evident. Yet the admiration Kahlo commands among woman is perhaps illuminated by reflecting on Coppola s Marie Antoinette. Although times have certainly changed, modern women continue to be enmeshed in complex situations brought about by capitalism. Attraction and resistance often reside side-by-side in female consumers. While often irresistibly attracted to products, these products represent the work of some of our most creative artists. Women frequently are also ambivalent about their purchasing and purchasing power or lack thereof. In such a context, does not Kahlo stand as a beacon of sorts, paradoxically critical and yet asserting a self-confident style. Frida s art, like her personality, was selfassured and confrontational. A description of her trademark posture is apparent as early as 1930 in Imogen Cunningham s photograph of her, taken while Kahlo was in San Fransico (Block and Hoffman-Jeff 10). Yet Jean Franco notes, The inner Frida is controlled by modern society far more than the clothed Frida, who often marks her deviation from the norm by defiantly returning the gaze of the viewer (107, quoted in Baddeley 14). This pose reminds one of Antoinette, yet it is Antoinette as the flip side to Kahlo. Rather than succumbing to abusive selfcriticism or loathing and despair as Kahlo s Dorothy Hale, Coppola s Antoinette confronts her accusers. At the opening of the film she gazes directly into the photographer s lens and into the viewer s eyes as she indulges in her bath and objects of beauty. Assertion is for Antoinette a learned response, not innate. While Kahlo imitators may not carry a national charge, they may, nevertheless, be politically motivated. One example is performance artist Yasumasa Morimura, whose project An Inner Dialogue with Frida Kahlo consisted of digitally manipulated photos which recreated the celebrated Mexican painter s fantastic self-portraits as a lush extravaganza of exotic Hollywood camp. Yasumasa is a master onnagata, the male Kabuki actor that specializes in female roles. He has donned Kahlo inspired attire, as well as that informed by Marie Antoinette (Kley 92). Morimura, however, modifies his performance with Japanese add ons, thus paying homage not only to Kahlo, but also calling attention to her over-the-top style, her nationalism, and her bisexual nature. Crossdressing and camp is again apparent in Carlos Mota s imitation at the annual New York socialite party thrown by Bette Midler at the Waldorf-Astoria (Simonds 74). He was accompanied by Anh Duong--a well-known 50

51 American actress, model and artist whose own self-portraits are self-admittedly influenced by Kahlo. Two current exhibits in the San Fransico area the area which gave Frida her first taste of U.S. culture--demonstrate the wonderful circulation of her inspiration. The first is Stephanie Pence s The Real Valley of the Dolls part of the 3 Girls Show (February 11-16, 2013) at the San Fransico Art Institute, Diego Rivera Gallery, an exhibit which confirms Kahlo s ongoing importance for female identity. The second, Stanford University s Composition with Frida at the Coplanar Exhibition Center (February 15, 2013) points to her influence on aesthetic theory. Conclusions Obviously there are various layers of political awareness in the diverse works inspired by Frida Kahlo and Marie Antoinette. Yet all of the art surrounding these powerful female icons discussed above, indicate how female bodies become canvases, and fashion becomes text, contributing to personal and political, individual and global conversations dealing with female identity. As many of the subjects of these works, specifically Coppola s Marie Antoinette and Taymor s Frida assertively find refuge and joy in fashion and derive meaning from it, they offer a fresh form of visual pleasure, one that can be both political and entertaining. References Baddeley, Oriana (1991). Her Dress Hangs Here : De Frocking the Kahlo Cult. in Oxford Art Journal, Vol 14, No. 1, pp Bingham, Dennis. (2010) Whose Lives Are These Anyway? New Brunswick: Rutgers UP. Block, Rebecca and Hoffman-Jeep, Lynda. (Autumn, 1998-Winter 1999) Fashioning National Identity: Frida Kahlo in Gringolandia. in Woman s Art Journal, Vol 19, No. 2, pp Brundson, Charlotte. (1997). Screen Tastes: Soap Operas to Satellite Dishes. New York: Routledge. Burgoyne, Robert. (2010) Film Nation: Hollywood Looks at U.S. History: Revised and Expanded Edition (Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press,). (First edition published in Translated into Portuguese). Burgoyne, Robert. (2008). The Hollywood Historical Film (London and Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, March; second printing, August 2008). Composition with Frida. (2013) Stanford University s Coplanar exhibit, February 15, Composition with Frida is a fifty-four piece collection of vectorized drawings that are ordered by time of creation. A Kitsch figure was displayed in a bare environment for one minute. It was then removed and drawn from visual memory. This process was repeated fifty-four times. The drawings document the acquisition of a trace image and the development of semiotic association. Composition with Frida No. 54, Cook, Pam. (2006), Portrait of a Lady. Sight and Sound, Vol. 16, No.1 pp Daniels, Steven. (2006) Slate. The Detroit News, Wife of Muralist Dabbles in Painting. February 22, Herrera, Hayden. (1983). Frida. New York: Harper Collins. Jameson, Frederic. (1986) Third-World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism, in Social Text, 69. Schaefer also quotes Jameson in reference to the private allegory of the visual images of Mexican social and political history in Kahlo s Painting p.5 quoted in Block and Hoffman-Jeep, 10. Johnston, Claire (1999) Women s Cinema as Counter-Cinema. Ed. Sue Thornham. Feminist Film Theory. New York: New York UP,:31-40 Kennedy, Todd (Fall 2010). Off with Hollywood s Head: Sofia Coppola as Feminine Auteur. Criticism. Vol 35, No.1 Kettenmann, Andrea. (2008) Kahlo. Cologne, Germany Kettenmann, Andrea (1988) Selbstdarstellung im Spiegel mexikanischer Tradition, in Helga Prignitz-Poda, et.call eds. Frida Kahlo: Das Gesammtwerk (Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Neue kritik,), Kley, Elisabeth. (Sep., 2003) Impersonations: Morimura, Colette, and Dellsperger in Costume.An Inner Dialogue with Frida Kahlo by Yasumasu Morimura. A Journal of Performance and Art, Vol. 25, No 3. MIT Press,, pp Pakula, Hannah. (1984) Queen of Roumania. London:Eland. Pence, Stephanie. (2013) The Real Valley of the Dolls in 3 Girls Show at the San Fransico Art Institute s Diego Rivera Gallery, February Mulvey, Laura. (1999) Visual Pleasure in Narrative Cinema. Ed. Sue Thornham. Feminist Film Theory. New York: New York Up,: Schaefer, Claudia (1992) Frida Kahlo s Cult of the Body. Textured Lives: Women, Art and Representation in Modern Mexico. Tucson: University of Arizona,: 3. quoted by Block and Hoffman-Jeep, 10. Simonds, Gillian Hearst. (October 2011). Playing Dress-Up, Town and Country,, pp

52 REFLECTIONS ON MOTHERHOOD AND WIDOWHOOD IN NINETEENTH CENTURY NOVEL Associate Professor RAMONA MIHĂILĂ*, Ph.D., Spiru Haret University, Bucharest Abstract. The present article intends to provide an analysis of maternal roles in Ioan Slavici s novel Mara (1894) and the means the author used to portray his female characters in a social, economic and historical background of the multicultural society of nineteenth century Romanian Banat under Austrian Empire. The movie directed by Mircea Veroiu in 1976 bearing the name Dincolo de pod (Beyond the Bridge) used the symbolic meaning of bridge as the border between the many religious (Orthodox, Catholic, Reformed and Lutheran) and ethnic (Romanian, German, Hungarian, Austrian, Serbian, Jews) worlds that lived together in that part of Banat in the mid-nineteenth century. Keywords: female characters, multicultural society of 19 th century Romanian Banat As * most of Ioan Slavici s protagonists, Mara demonstrates a surprising power to adapt to any situation. When her husband dies, instead of lamenting or asking for help from other people, she starts working. With a lot of energy, she succeeds in doing by herself what her husband would have never succeeded. Mara, a big, broad-shouldered woman, with weather-beaten cheeks, is a hardworking woman, who works from dawn, after the cocks first crow, until the evening. She is not afraid of difficulties. On the contrary, the more numerous the * Ramona Mihăilă is Associate Professor at Faculty of Letters, Spiru Haret University, Bucharest. She is the author of Identity Construction: Female Characters in 19th Century Fiction (2008), Current Issues (2006), coeditor of Aspects of European Civilizations (2009), Gender Studies: Woman Inside and Outside the Box (2010), Gender Studies in the Age of Globalization (2011), co-author of Communication Matters in Mass Media and Cultural Studies (2008) and Introspective Debates (2010). She was visiting Associate Professor, Arizona State University (2010), trainee, Huygens Institute, The Hague (2011), research fellow, University of Southampton and Chawton House Library (2012). She was the coordinator of the European Project, Gender Studies and Gender Roles in Romania and Austria: A Contrastive Research of the Literary-Media Sources ( ) while now she is co-joint leader of Working Group 4 within the European Project COST Women Writers into History ( ) and Member of Management Committee of the European Project COST GenderSTE ( ). [email protected] difficulties are, the bigger callousness she demonstrates. However, there were moments when she felt the burden of life, but Mara did not cry she d rather break pots or turn over tables and baskets. She became aware of how much she had possessed when her husband died, how much she had now and how much she d have in the future. And even if you were Mara you d grow soft when you felt how good it was to be a human being in this world, to keep running all day long and feel you were not doing it for nothing (p. 5). Mara is an amazing character due to the difference between her maternal affection, the resolution she works with in order to provide her children a peaceful living and the fact that she is influenced by the mentality of the townspeople eager to become rich overnight, as George Călinescu also noticed: That proportion of avarice and maternal affection, as well as of masculine resolution and the feeling of a woman weakness is made with a perfect art. (Călinescu, 1982: 450) The poor widow, Mara has a single goal in her life: to work in order to support herself and her children. First, we find her in Radna, a good place to trade, then she moves to Lipova that stood right across the river, because on Tuesday mornings Mara would pitch her tent and place her full baskets on the right bank of Mureş, where the people of the river gathered for the weekly market from as far as Săvârşin or Suboteliu, along with the 52

53 vintners from as far as Cuvin. On Thursday mornings she d cross the Mureş and put her tent on the left bank, where the people from all over Banat, from as far as Făget, Căpâlnaş, and Sân-Miclăuş came to the market. On Friday night, after the cocks first crow, she d leave for Arad, so that daybreak would find her tent pitched in the large marketplace, where people from seven regions came together. (p. 1) She is satisfied to sell at Lipova or Arad products that are more expensive on the market, goods that she could buy with more convenient prices in other places: Mara would never come your way empty-handed. She d sell whatever she could and buy whatever she could find. From Radna she d take what you couldn t find in Lipova or in Arad; from Arad she d bring back what she had taken to market, and she d rather sell with little grain than let her merchandise get moldy. (p. 2). Ileana Alexandra Orlich remarks that beyond this idyllic world, Mara offers a reading of the female protagonists, Mara and her daughter Persida, as crucial in framing contradictions central to the tensions between traditional societies and the need to address female subjectivity as a subject at once immersed in the world and securely enclosed in its domestic interiority. Intertwined with the late nineteenth-century siege on the authority of the domestic sphere as an isolated space defined in opposition to the public world, the centrality of the feminine subject in Mara may well reflect the natural consequences of Slavici s awareness of the reevaluation of domesticity in the 1880s. (Orlich, 2004: 45) The evolution of Mara s character is described by Slavici through permanent observations. From the very beginning, she does not refuse small but safe incomes. But gradually, the necessity to work in order to save more money becomes a wish to earn the people s respect due to the wealth she could gather. From this point of view, Mara integrates herself in the mentality of wealthy people and acts unscrupulously when her business shows high profits. Her household spirit changes into greed for fortune. The next step in going business further is to lease the floating bridge over the Mureş River, and deposits the money gained in three socks: Mara kept sitting and brooding, counting the money mentally, two creitari for each man and ten for a pair of oxen and horses; she kept counting and adding up until there was a lot of money and her eyes filled with tears. (p. 6). Calculating all the time, she has before her eyes the image of her children in that peaceful future. How could a poor widow see her daughter a priest s wife, her son the head of the furriers guild and her heart not grow soft?! (p. 6) As the socks become heavier, Mara gets more self-confident and becomes a usurer with the money that she earned. She gets used to cheat her business partners, but in the end she will calm down with remorse, telling herself that a poor widow that has to bring up two children, cannot afford to let herself at the mercy of fate. Mara plays the role of widow mostly when she has to place her assets. She cheats on everyone, posing as a victim: Mara would keep going about, running sprightly, bargaining and quarreling with people; at times she d tear her hair, cry and complain that she was left a widow; then again she d look around to see her children and she d start laughing. (p. 3). In fact, she is a winner who takes advantage of her adversary in the right moment and wins each clash. She initiates a new profitable business with the woods and takes butcher Hubăr as her partner. Later, she gets rid of him, giving Hubăr the impression that she has helped him to escape from a combination that was going bad. Once left alone in the business, she runs to the debtors to ask them to come with their carts in the woods, in order to take out some fathoms that were cut during the winter: That poor stout woman was running as if she had been feather-light, and you d find her where you expected her least, now here, now there, then again over there, and her voice sharpened by hard times would resound everywhere, for without anger, without talking, without quarreling you can t make people work. That damned woman! the men used to say, looking after her, but they d obey her orders, lay hands to it and things would be set moving like clockwork. (p. 103). Being a haughty woman, Mara is happy that people respect her for her wealth, but at the same time she is sized with anxiety, thinking that her present situation could bring envies and adversities which could ruin her. Mara s psychology in these moments is typical for greedy people that are always 53

54 anxious. According to Ioan Slavici, she begins to lament and exculpate herself: Mara kept complaining that her affairs were in a bad state. She was sure she was losing on the forest and would be bankrupt if it hadn t been for the rafts, which she sold for good money after unloading the lumber. She really believes that she is a victim of plots organized by her enemies: Only I know, mother s dear, she said, sighing, how much I have to struggle to make both ends meet. They started a rumor that I ve hoarded up lots of money and everybody steals from me, everybody tries to cheat me. (p. 55). Since the days she put aside silver coins for the bridge, Mara has been changed by the gold which she gathered: True, she was still the old Mara, still greasy, still unkempt, and she wouldn t have looked any other way, either. But now she talked more emphatically, quarreled less often, walked more deliberately and held herself taller than before. You can feel a person when has wealth, and you can see the one who s aware of it. (p. 11). Watching her gathered money, Mara is thinking how she succeeds even if she is a widow [she refers to her widowhood only as a starting point for the comparison married/with husband, but poor - widow, but wealthy] and cannot control the palpable emotion of her wealth: My God, how everything will grow in this world! (p. 12). Being a superstitious person, Mara lives with the belief that money will represent power as long as she does not spend it. The only thing that she could do is to increase its amount. In order to send Trică to school she should take from Persida s money, but refuses to do so because she cannot overcome her superstition. Yet, being subdued by the power of gold, Mara has not saved money as meant for her children for a long time, even if she deceives herself with this illusion. But this illusion transfigures her, makes her younger, gives her an inner power, seeing how... the socks would grow along with the children, and The children, poor as they d been left, were growing like osiers in watery riverside gravel, and their mother seemed to grow younger while collecting fares at the head of the bridge (p. 12). Working all day long, Mara feels the need of a palpable proof for her efforts. In fact, money represents a direct confirmation, a reward for her effort: And even if you were Mara, you d grow soft when you felt how good it was to be a human being in this world, to keep running all day long and feel you were not doing it for nothing. (p. 2). Linda M. Phillips analyzes the fact that nineteenth-century literacy ideals are enduring and continue to shape literacy and mothering discourses. ( ) By the early 20th century, mothers roles changed to be more didactic and pragmatic than sacred: mothers were promoting children s success in school and contributing to the development of a more secular personality, rather than developing a spiritual and morally enlightened character (Phillips, 2007, 81). In Mara s case, although she loves her children up to idolatry, she is not capable of sacrificing money for them. She struggles to get Persida study at the Monastery for Minorities, but she does not want to pay a single silver coin. Mara uses people around her in order to achieve her goals. Taking advantage of Sister Aegidia s weakness, who has asked only 60 florins for Persida s education, Mara will not pay anything, thinking that the money that she saves in this way will help her to support Trică at a school in Arad. But money will continue to remain in her socks, because Trică will become the apprentice of a furrier. Not even in this case she spends money, guiding her life by a peasant principle according to which many educated people live a difficult life: God, how many people with a lot of learning are used to living sordid lives, struggling with everyday needs, and ignored, even despised by others who might be illiterate, but who had money! She knows that there was nothing above money, save good health and good humour. Why should you give away the money you hold firmly in your hand if you get nothing palpable or certain, in return? You only get a feeling, a hope, a thought that might make you happy for a time; yet, you could never be sure it would come true. God forbid! she said firmly. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush! (p. 10). This complacency has also resulted from the fact that she couldn t get rid of her dream. The passion for the income that controls her more and more powerfully is balanced by the care for her children. However, Magdalena Popescu notices that despite the balances between sublime and 54

55 abject, between ideal and real, between rational duty and instinctual passion, Mara is the most balanced and tonic character in Slavici s writings. The antinomies are exhibited precisely to illustrate a spiritual technique of their junction and composition that are reciprocally changeable. (Popescu, 1977: 139) While she is struggling to maintained a balance between the lust for wealth and the love for her children a new event comes on one of the scales; it s when she sees her children in boat on the Mureş River, with the bulging waters all around them. Instead of running to save them, she froze, her eyes wide open, her lips tight and drooping. Holly Archangels! she shouted crossing herself. Saint Mary, Holy Virgin, Immaculate Mother! You children need a bashing! No! she added, reassured, Nobody has children like mine! (p. 12). After all, what could happen to them? Between the pontoons of the bridge there was enough space for a hundred boats to pass! asks herself Mara, not moving from the bridge because she is afraid she misses a passer-by that might not pay. In fact, this is the point where Mara s confidence in her children should be interpreted. She is proud that they have already shown a well-defined personality. An ambitious and energetic nature, Mara tries to bring up her two children according to her character. She rules her life according to the principle that, in order to succeed, someone must be astute and ambitious. This is why she is not bothered that Persida and Trică are ragged and barefoot and unkempt and unwashed and cheeky, mother s poor little ones (p. 3). Obedient, quiet and docile children are not true Christians for her. Left in the care of Sister Aegidia at the Monastery for Minorities, Persida becomes a quiet and submissive person and There at the convent she had acquired the bad habit, that everything within her sight must be clean; so she felt sick when she came home on holy days and would keep cleaning the house, and even up in the attic, for three days running. (12). But Persida s change set Mara brooding: Persida might become too gentle. She worried that the nun would entice her, casting a spell on her daughter to turn her, too, into a humble nun. I d rather she died! But no, this couldn t happen; there was nobody humble in her kin, all were true Christians! (p. 7). We may interpret this in the key concepts of race, class, gender suggested by Susanne Hochreiter while she asks if this triad of notions sufficiently describe what happens to a marginalized person in a certain situation or context or does it help to meet her needs in society. (Hochreiter: 2011, p. 52). Living in a world governed by money, in which people are evaluated due to their wealth, Mara wants vigorous children able to overcome the difficulties of life without suffering from them. When she was poor she was humiliated and insulted many times. But this struggle with the world and its laws determines Mara to decide that she will defeat the rich people, by getting more money than them. She will struggle, in order to create to her children a good financial situation that could allow them a higher position in society. As her wealth increases, Mara will be regarded in a different way by people that start to respect her, and her grown up children are welcomed in honorable families. Becoming a well-known person in the Mureş meadow, from Rodna to Lipova and even to Arad, Mara feels she is revenged for all the humiliation that she had to endure in the past. Because Persida is wooed by a theologian and she is going to get into a good marriage, Mara wants to show everyone that she is rich. Thus she starts speaking about debtors, dressing better, while she talks slowly and walks keeping her body upright: She was not the Mara at the bridge any more, nor the petty trader, and especially, not the widow left with two little children; dressed up for the wedding, she stood upright, talked slowly and considerately, and she even dropped a word here and there about the troubles debtors will cause you, just for the people to know. (p. 28). When she sees her children well dressed for attending a wedding, she is very proud of them and cannot help crying: How, oh Lord, couldn t she cry, when she saw her children grown up, so handsome, so neat and so decent, and Bârzovan, may God forgive him, was in the grave and couldn t see them, too, for they were his, as well. (p. 24). Throughout the novel, Mara is not thinking too often about her husband and, when she speaks about him, she mentions him just to express the pity he cannot see his children. She does not say anything about 55

56 herself. In the beginning, Mara does not save money for the sake of the money, but to create a good financial situation for her children. Therefore, the fact that she does not want to give away the money she has kept for children is not regarded as a sign of avarice. She keeps telling herself that she is a single woman and she can rely only on the money she saves. Now she makes a goal from making money and she is ready to renounce even to the division of the income in the three socks. When she became a widow, she was not as poor as she wanted to be regarded. She had about two hundred plum trees in the Mureş meadow, the vineyard from the Păuliş hill, as well as the house. But gradually, the lust for earning money shadows her maternal feelings. She has moments when she is more preoccupied by her wealth than by the fate of the children. Although she could have given Trică two thousand florins, out of the thirtyforty thousand that she saved for him, Mara advised her son contrary to moral attitudes to conquer Bocioacă s wife, in order to get from her money for ransom: You are a young man, and you must not bring shame upon your master s house. She is not the only mother who marries her daughter to the boy she is fond of. You keep her busy talking until she gives you her daughter, then spit in her face and you will have a mother-in-law who is afraid of you and will never try to boss you around. (p. 140). While Trică feels lost, Mara ends the discussion on a categorical tone: I won t give a penny! Mara answered stubbornly. And if you get involved, so much for the worse! What have you got to lose? It won t be my shame, nor yours, but hers! Just keep your mouth shut. (p. 140). Both Persida and Trică will succeed in life, but not supported by their mother, from whom they have inherited only the strong personality. Mara loves her children but, as Nicolae Manolescu notices, she does not care too much. On the one hand, her love has a demagogic side, meant to attract the world s compassion ( ) and, on the other hand, children are children and, whatever happens, if they have a bit of luck they will manage in life. Here, Mara abruptly seems fatalist. At least in this respect, she, the vigorous and industrious usurer woman, leaves herself in the hands of God. (Manolescu: 1999, 128). Carolyn Kraus argues that female illegitimacy is a significant theme in a number of classic nineteenth-century European and American novels, that are concerned with female transgression (Kraus: 2011, p. 78), and we may add that the same phenomenon can be found in the Romanian literature, but Slavici has a different approach to this matter. When she finds out that Persida s has eloped with Naţl, Mara should have got crazy by grief, such as a real careful mother would do. But she is sized with pride, because she has the revelation of the resemblance between herself and Persida. Mara has also an unusual reaction when Trică goes to conscription, although Bocioacă redeemed him. In fact, the boy is determined to redeem his spiritual liberty, the independence and honesty which he risked to lose in the furrier s house. It is impossible for Mara to understand and accept Trică s decision: She started roaring with laughter on seeing how horrified Persida looked, who had understood at once her brother s decision. It was crazy! After taking the money, the empire had no right to him. She laughed again when Persida told her Trică was to get the money back. She was thrilled at the thought that her son might receive such a lot of money. But she didn t believe that the empire could indeed be so silly as to return the money once it had it. As she kept laughing, they crossed the river, and she laughed still more heartily when she finally caught sight of Trică with the cap aslant. Ah! How well it fitted him! Oh, what a lad! There was no one like him! ( ) Nobody had a son like hers after all! (p. 270). Mara feels the independence of her children and, therefore, she does not react when they decide to live on their own. But she cannot stop from exclaiming: Accursed kin! she shouted. Once they have gotten something into their heads, there is no way to make them give it up! (p. 276). Therefore, she laughs with an maliciously when she finds out that Naţl has beaten up Persida again and she becomes somehow happy when she thinks of the hardships Trică must go through during the war. Nevertheless, Persida and Trică have no resentment against their mother. They love her and they understand that she sacrificed her life, working for them. They are proud of 56

57 her. When Bocioacă tells Trică that Mara was cheated by Hubăr, Trică says with a laughing voice: I can t believe that someone could cheat on my mother. And when her grandson is baptized and becomes a Romano-catholic, Mara masks her disappointment: It was beautiful! she said, turning to Persida. Baptism is beautiful with them, as well. We all are humans, Christians, true Christians, and we all have but one God. (p. 292). These words touched Persida a lot. She embraces her mother with love: My dear mother! Persida said and hugged her. If all people were like you, there would be only happiness in this world! (p. 292). Mara realizes that family is the most important thing, and that the cultural, religious or wealth differences cannot stop them from being together like old times. Slavici was influenced by Confucius ideas concerning the family and we may perceive these ideas due to latest studies dedicated to Confucius and feminism discussed by Luciana Irina Văluţanu while she remarks that mother not the woman, is the one who truly holds power in the family. (Văluţanu: 2012, p. 134). But there are possible things that could soften Mara in this world as well. She remembers how long she hesitated to go to see Persida when she found out that her daughter was pregnant again. She realizes that this child will bind forever her daughter with Naţl and for this reason she hesitates to give her consent. For many months she has postponed her visit, but when she is called because Persida is supposed to give birth in any moment, her powerful maternal feelings overcome and, full with remorse, she runs to the tavern in Sărărie: She felt like tearing at her hair, biting her own flesh, and while walking with fast and tiny steps, not with the big, wide strides of the past, and making for the tavern by the salt store, she kept telling herself: Viper! Scoundrel! She should have come long before, and she couldn t forgive herself for not having done so. (p. 277). The climax of her actions regarding the collection of money will occur at the christening of her grandson, when Mara is divided between the haughty generosity which stimulates her to give him a huge amount of money in order for everyone to finally see how much money she has and the regrets she feels when she has to abandon the money. The money is part of her life and she cannot abandon it suddenly, but it seemed like such a lot of money to give away, just like that. (p. 293). While she runs to her house in order to bring Persida the thirty thousand florins dowry that she has collected for her because it is the right moment to do so she starts to change her mind. And her turmoil continues while she begins to decrease this amount: It was enough to give her thirty, twenty-five or twenty. The rest would still be hers and would be better kept by her. Finally she took ten thousand. It still was more than Mrs. Hubãr had given them, maybe too much... and she felt like turning back. (p. 293). She becomes calmer, thinking that she will give the money in front of everyone, so the people will find out what big dowry Persida has. When she sees how many people are attending the event, she regrets that she has not brought more money. But in the moment that she must give the money to Naţl, the gesture seems unbearable to her, and she reduces the amount to eight thousand florins. However, she cools down, because, intrigued by the big amount of money, her son-in-law gives her back the money in order to be kept by her: Yes, yes, Mara answered, where could it be kept better than with me? But you should know you have it... all of it, not only this much. (p. 294). Mara s pride is totally satisfied when all the leading people in the community offer her recognition in the society, directly proportional with her wealth: indeed, the people thought of her differently than before. Let alone that money will raise you in your own soul as much as in the eyes of others, earned money is also evidence of merit, and all the guests understood why Mara was sitting on the chair as if planted on a throne, all the while speaking slowly and emphatically. (p. 517). Slavici portrays Mara as a remarkable female character, the first capitalist woman in our literature, according to Nicolae Manolescu: She is not interested in the financial wealth, like in the cases of Dinu Păturică or Tănase Scatiu, with regard to whom depicts a subsequent moment: her goal is to collect money and her whole courage is focused on business. She is a businesswoman. (Manolescu: 1999, p. 126). Gifted with optimism, power to work, and a 57

58 sharp sense of business, she copes with the tough reality of the Transylvanian market and she is convinced that everything will end up well. In spite of its importance, maternity (or widowhood) itself is one of the least studied aspects of the nineteenth century literature, a conclusion drawn also by Sharon Marcus while referring to the Victorian era. It has been annexed to formulations of gender, the private sphere, and the consolidation of the bourgeois values. More recently, maternity has been implicated in the ideological structures of race and nation. Yet detailed explorations that range beyond these ideas are rare. Although maternity is routinely placed at the center of constructions of femininity and domesticity, it has received surprisingly little attention as a distinct conception or experience. Most often, it is collapsed into treatments of femininity and domesticity, mentioned and then subsumed into a more general analysis of gender roles (Marcus: 2007, p. 8). References * All the references to the Romanian books or publications are in my translation. All the references to the English version of the novel Mara are taken from Slavici, Ioan (2003), Mara. A Critical Study. Translation and Commentary by Ileana Alexandra Orlich. Bucharest: The Romanian Cultural Foundation Publishing House. Călinescu, George, (1982), The History of the Romanian Literature from the Origins until Now. Bucharest: Minerva, 450. Hochreiter, Susanne (2011), Race, Class, Gender? Intersectionality Troubles, Journal of Research in Gender Studies, no. 1(2). Kraus, Karolyn (2011), A Gentleman s Agreement: Female Illegitimacy in Nineteenth-Century Male-Authored Fiction, Journal of Research in Gender Studies, no. 1(2). Manolescu, Nicolae (1999), Arca lui Noe Noe s Arch). Bucharest: Gramar. Marcus, Sharon (2007), Between Women: Friendship, Desire, and Marriage in Victorian England. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Niessen, James, P. (2005), Romania, Eastern Europe. An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Cultures, Richard Frucht (ed.), vol. III. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio Inc. Orlich, Ileana Alexandra (2004), Articulating Gender, Narrating the Nation: Allegorical Femininity in Romanian Fiction. New York: Columbia University Press. Popescu, Magdalena (1977), Slavici. Bucharest: Cartea Romaneasca. Phillips M. Linda (2007), Critical Discourse Analysis: An Example of the Good Mother in Literacy-Advice Texts, literacies #7, fall - available at Văluţanu, Luciana Irina (2012), Confucius and Feminism, Journal of Research in Gender Studies, no. 1(2). 58

59 ENJEUX DE L ECRITURE DANS L EXCISEE D EVELYNE ACCAD Associate Professor RABIA REDOUANE* Ph.D Montclair State University Abstract: In the literature of the Arab world, the feminine expression which approaches sexuality, intimacy, denounces taboos and prohibitions, raises itself against abuses as well as social and religious pressures, is considered as a strong and committed voice. This is the case of the Lebanese writer Evelyne Accad. The present study clearly shows Accad s courage in dealing with a serious subject in her novel the excised and tackling it in an audacious way. The writer offers an act of indictment and liberation in a form of a premature born and harrowing love story between a Christian woman and a Muslim man, with a backdrop Lebanon and a fratricidal war as a context. Keywords: writing female sexuality, excision, contestation, Arab world,. Résumé: Dans la littérature du Monde Arabe, la parole féminine qui aborde la sexualité, l intimité, dénonce les tabous et les interdits, se soulève contre les abus et les contraintes aussi bien sociales que religieuses, est considérée comme une voix forte et engagée. C est le cas de l écrivaine libanaise Evelyne Accad. La présente étude montre clairement son courage d aborder dans L excisée un sujet grave et de le traiter de manière audacieuse. Elle propose un acte d accusation et de libération sous forme d une histoire d amour avortée et déchirante entre une chrétienne et un musulman, avec en toile de fond le Liban, et le contexte d une guerre fratricide. Mots clés : écriture féminine, sexualité, excision, dénonciation, monde arabe, accusation. Evelyne * Accad est née à Beyrouth, au Liban. Elle à la fois écrivaine, poétesse, chanteuse, compositrice et professeure en Illinois et à Beyrouth. Elle est aussi l auteure de nombreux ouvrages, études et romans en * Rabia Redouane holds a Ph.D. in Second Language Education from University of Toronto, Canada. She is an Associate Professor of French in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Montclair State University. Her research interests include applied and comparative linguistics, second language education, and francophone Maghrebian literature (especially women writers). She edited a book entitled Regards croisés sur l enseignement des langues étrangères, Paris : L Harmattan, 2011 and published various articles in her field in refereed journals. To name few, Intertextualité linguistique: lexique arabe et écriture chez Malika Mokeddem in Autour des écrivains maghrébins: Malika Mokeddem, a collection of essays, L Harmattan, Paris; N zid de Malika Mokeddem ou la (re)- naissance d un être féminin in International Journal of Francophone Studies, Leeds; Représentations de la mère dans Une si longue lettre de Mariama Bâ, in Francofonia Journal, Spain. D un pays à un autre ou les enjeux du passage dans Les yeux baissés de Tahar Ben Jelloun in la Revue française, South Africa; De la dualité à la complémentarité: Le cas du bilinguisme au Maroc in Language Problems and Language Planning, Holland; Arabization in the Moroccan educational system: Problems and prospects, in Language, Culture & Curriculum, Ireland. [email protected] Français et en Anglais 1, traduits dans plusieurs langues, couronnés par plusieurs prix. En érigeant une mosaïque d écritures, mélangeant subtilement le tragique et le poétique, la prose et la poésie, une intertextualité biblique et coranique ainsi que des références à des événements historiques majeurs, Accad dévoile une grande partie du malaise existentiel qui, partout, frappe l être féminin. La particularité de son écriture qui réside dans cette capacité de pouvoir servir de lien entre littérature, esthétique et histoire, ainsi qu entre problèmes sociaux et l identité, dresse un parallèle entre la politique, le religieux, la sexualité et la guerre, qui 1 Evelyne Accad. Veil of Shame: The Role of women in the cancer, Paris, L Harmattan, 2000 et Femmes du crépuscule, Paris, L Harmattan, 2008.Contemporary Fiction of the North Africa and the Arab World, Sherbrooke, Québec : Naaman, 1978, L excisée, Paris, L Harmattan, 1982 ; Coquelicot du massacre, Paris, L Harmattan, 1988 ; Sexuality and War: Literary Masks of the Middle East, New York, New York University Press, 1990 ; Blessures des mots : Journal de Tunisie, Paris, Côté-Femmes, 1993 ; Des femmes, des hommes, et la guerre, Paris, Côté-Femmes, 1993 ; Voyages en cancer, Paris, L Harmattan, 2000 et Femmes du crépuscule, Paris, L Harmattan,

60 apparaissant dans la trame narrative de ses multiples écrits comme des manifestations d un jeu de pouvoir et de subjugation. En fait, l écrivaine sait surprendre. En évoquant ces mêmes thématiques chères à son cœur, elle sait se renouveler constamment en reprenant le tragique humain car, elle a sans doute compris que tout conflit demeure une partie souterraine, un domaine de l histoire qui ne peut s atteindre que par la fiction. Accad excelle en racontant une histoire, des histoires, abordant une multitude de thèmes, réalisée dans des trames narratives qui fourmillent de situations troublantes. Dans L excisée 1, * elle propose un acte d accusation et de libération sous forme d une histoire d amour avortée et déchirante entre une chrétienne et un musulman, avec en toile de fond le Liban, et le contexte d une guerre fratricide 2. Dès le début, on se laisse emporter par un récit dur et captivant, à l écriture alerte, qui met en scène cette conscience du malheur et du chaos qui ronge le pays : L été a été chaud, un été de poussière et de folie, un été de rage, humide comme les pleurs de l enfant endolori, amer comme la noisette verte. Partout des bandes armées ont assiégé Beyrouth, remuant les haines, semant la peur, brisant les confiances, cassant l euphorie. Les barricades se sont dressées sur les mêmes rues, sous le même ciel, dans la même ville : frère contre frère, sœur contre sœur, enfants entraînés dans la débâcle. Les canons, les mitrailleuses, les roquettes et le fusils ont grondé entre côté chrétien et côté musulman, déchirant le silence, créant le vide, trouant l espoir. Le sang a coulé, un sang noir chargé de lignage, un sang ignominieux, un sang vengeur. Les cadavres ont jonché les rues semant la panique, appelant d autres morts. La mer a rougi, puis elle est devenue d encre, ravalant au loin sa honte. (9) La description est brève, mais révèle amplement les ravages de la guerre 1 Les citations tirées de cet écrit sont indiquées par des chiffres placés entre parenthèse. 2 La guerre du Liban avec ses horreurs, ses malheurs, ses dérives et ses hostilités qui ont déchiré le pays a été largement abordée par différents écrivains libanais aussi bien masculins que féminins. Voir l étude de Julia Schmidt. «La guerre du Liban dans la littérature francophone», La République des Lettres, dimanche 1 mai traumatisants dans un monde où règne l insécurité et dans lequel la mort est devenue une banalité. Et les batailles ont repris de plus belle, plus violentes parce que plus vengeresses, plus mortelles, parce que nourries de morts. Des piétons égarés sont arrêtés, questionnés, et, suivant leur dénomination confessionnelle, ils sont exécutés sommairement, froidement sur place, quelquefois sous un arbre, quelquefois dans une rigole, le plus souvent contre un mur, les bras en croix ; ils ne sauront jamais pourquoi ils sont morts. Des maisons sont aussi occupées, leurs habitants égorgés. Personne ne se soucie du ciel qui porte son deuil en fumées noires, voiles opaques constamment fermés, voiles à l odeur âcre qui étouffent, qui étreignent, qui suffoquent. (10) L écrivaine s interroge sur la complexité et l absurdité de cette situation dramatique qui déroute à plus d un titre, face à l escalade effrénée de la violence sans fin et sans fond. Loin d agir ou de réagir, les gens sont témoins passifs devant l écoulement du sang et les atrocités des carnages qui paralysent le pays et ses habitants. Mais personne ne comprend. Où est la haine qui s est déchaînée pendant tout l été? Où est la foudre qui a terrassé, qui a terrorisé, qui a brisé l essentiel? Où est la réponse aux pourquoi de cette guerre? Le silence se fait lentement, c est un silence vide et froid, cruel comme l épée. La peur est installée au fond des cœurs et personne n ose parler, personne n ose questionner. C est bien la fin de l été. (13) Et puis il y a cette jeune fille chrétienne dotée dans le récit d une seule initiale pour prénom : E. On va la suivre, la regarder vivre et l entendre penser et agir tout au long de la trame narrative jusqu à la note finale. Elle est effacée et timide, vient de changer d école, quittant la française, pour fréquenter l anglaise. Elle a aussi des amies musulmanes et, ensemble, elles essayent de composer avec la situation tragique d une guerre qui s éternise, obligeant les gens à choisir leurs camps. En fait, chacun(e) se range d un côté ou de l autre. Quant à elle, son choix et sa préférence demeurent ceux des ombres, toujours sérieuse et studieuse, chaleureuse et 60

61 respectueuse de ses amies. Celles-ci insouciantes et aventureuses appartenant aux «jeunes filles «dans le vent» qui écoutent Elvis Presley et flirtent avec les G.I. de la Sixième flotte» (17). Le récit avance et des événements prennent dans la trame narrative une perspective différente. Des personnages au quotidien présents ou effacés vont se croiser autour d elle : son père, un prédicateur, engagé dans l église ; sa mère, une fervente chrétienne, totalement soumise à son mari tyrannique ; sa camarade de classe Rima, une rebelle audacieuse ; et l étrangère, appelée aussi l égyptienne, voix préventive et alarmante, rencontrée par hasard sur un bateau qui lui décrit la cruauté et la violence des traditions arabes. Ce qui donne à voir au lecteur ce monde dans ses pratiques religieuses, tout en étant dans ses pensées, ses souvenirs et ses peurs. Il convient de signaler l existence d une tente d évangélisation, dressée dans son quartier, pour «réveiller les consciences à un renouveau religieux» (16), qui manifeste l importance fondamentale accordée à la religion dans un pays, ravagé par les horreurs de la guerre, qui se détruit, se perd et s anéantit. Sous son chapiteau, se réunissent chaque soir, des fidèles qui espèrent trouver dans l écho des paroles divines le salut pour leurs âmes perturbées. À défaut de rejoindre le groupe, E. reste à l écart de la foule, parce que les appels de la tente soutenus par son père, «créent en elle le vide et la terrible envie de partir», désertant tout, «comme les leçons monotones de cette école où elle s en va». Comme l indique Amira Issa, elle se «révolte contre les prédications de la tente Evangélique qui prêche la résignation en face de cette guerre barbare» (2005, p 132). Car pour elle, tout ce qui l entoure devient terreur permanente engloutie dans une réalité effrayante : Il y a eu trop de sang. Il y a eu trop de morts. Il y a eu trop de corps déchiquetés sous un soleil d effroi. Il y a eu trop de camps rasés et d enfants asphyxiés. Il y a eu trop de cris rebondissant sur des murs érigés par la peur. Il y a eu trop de sexe mutilés, de femmes violées et d enfants écartelés dans une nuit sans fin. Il y a eu trop d injustices et de souffrances inutiles acceptées à genoux. (16) Il important de souligner que malgré tous les désirs de liberté qui l animent, elle ne peut se permettre d être comme Rima et son groupe de filles. Elle doit agir correctement, demeurer obéissante et vigilante, évitant de provoquer le redoutable courroux parental. Un terrible châtiment la menace si elle ne protège pas sa «pureté», sujet d une communauté qui ne badine pas avec les codes d honneur : Les codes d honneur réglés par la famille deviennent des codes d honneur réglés par la société. Et cette dernière ne pardonne pas. Œil pour œil, dent pour dent. Et quand il s agit d une femme : deux femmes pour un homme, deux yeux pour un œil, deux dents pour une dent. De temps en temps, une de ces révoltées met fin à ses jours en avalant du poison ou en se jetant depuis le haut de son balcon. Et les journaux citent ces pauvres éclopées dans les «faits-divers» ou ne les citent pas du tout. Encore une pauvre hystérique à la recherche d une illusion! Et si le suicide est un crime commis par un frère pressé de laver l honneur de la famille dans le sang, on applaudit. On crie à la victoire de codes bien huilés. (17-18) Cependant, malgré toutes les menaces, et en dépit de tous les risques à courir, elle se laisse entraîner par Rima qui lui fait rencontrer un Palestinien de Jaffa. Et quand elle accepte de lui parler, elle ose transcender les interdits, les barrières et briser les frontières. Elle adhère à ses paroles à propos des «religions [qui] ne servent qu à créer des fossés entre les êtres, entre les peuples» (34). Toutefois, en acceptant de lier une relation avec lui, elle se rend compte combien le malaise identitaire surgit entre eux tant leurs croyances s opposent même s ils appartiennent à un même pays. Mais, troublée par la naissance de sentiments qu elle ne peut ni contrôler, ni atténuer, elle se lance dans une fuite haletante, semée d épreuves et de découvertes inattendues et souvent dangereuses, qui vont changer le cours de son destin. Enchaînée à des valeurs rigides et séculaires, brimée dans l expression de ses ardents désirs, elle regarde au loin l horizon, aspirant à une immense liberté : J aimerais être comme cette mer, libre d aller où je veux, de faire ce que je veux, 61

62 libre de gronder, libre d écumer, libre d être calme. Fuir les systèmes, exister à l infini! Ne rejoindre que le ciel, me croiser dans son bleu, m éterniser, m immortaliser, mais pas pour un autre système, système d anges, des rues d or, d habits blancs, de cantiques... (40) Ayant compris qu il existe entre eux un lien solide capable de surmonter toutes les difficultés, de dépasser les obstacles et de franchir les fossés séparant leurs deux cultures, elle agit en toute certitude et conviction, déterminée à braver tout le monde pour être avec son amoureux Samir, désigné par P. Elle va jusqu à épouser sa cause parce qu il est devenu sa vie, son espoir et ses rêves. En revanche, elle sait que cette décision entraînera une rupture définitive avec le lieu originel et de graves conséquences en suivront susceptibles d engendrer beaucoup de perturbations à prendre au sérieux : Mais j ai peur des conquêtes, et j ai peur du sang. J ai peur de ma famille et du mal que je peux leur faire. J ai peur de la ville et des gens, de tous ces yeux qui nous regardent pour nous dévorer : un musulman et une chrétienne, enlacés dans le sable. On tue à moins dans ce pays. J ai peur des grands déserts tout nus qui sont peut-être privés de ces mirages de l eau de ton enfance. J ai peur de toutes ces choses, mais je veux t aider à réaliser ton rêve car tu es devenu ma vie. Je traverserai la mer et les déserts avec toi et je t aiderai à retrouver la boîte de ton enfance. (63) D évidence, leur union dans un monde intolérant, inquiétant, où les idées extrémistes et séparatismes instaurent un climat de terreur et une haine démesurée entre les différentes communautés religieuses, ne peut être dépourvue de tensions capables de les détruire individuellement. Mais pour la jeune fille, en quête de paix et de fraternité entre les humains, la solidité de leurs sentiments peut arrêter les forces du mal, abolir les distances et faire triompher la ferveur illuminant leurs cœurs : Peut-être que l amour triomphera après tout. Peut-être que l amour arrivera à transformer les haines, les jalousies, les mesquineries en espérances, en foi et en paix. Peut-être que l amour prendra ces corps, ce sang, ces camps rasés, ces oiseaux et ces enfants calcinés pour en faire une nouvelle terre, de nouveaux arbres, de nouveaux fruits, de nouveaux êtres. Elle se sent traversée de foi et de paix. (63-64) Elle n attend qu un moment opportun pour réaliser le rêve d être ensemble qui, pourtant va se diluer. Le rêve d être ensemble, qu elle n attend que le moment opportun pour le réaliser, va se diluer. Étant donné son appartenance sociale et religieuse, son appel du cœur est sévèrement réprimandé. Elle ne peut s attendre ni à la compréhension ni à la compassion de la part de sa mère. De plus, l autorité paternelle ne peut tolérer un tel égarement comportemental. L acharnement patriarcal à appliquer les lois divines lui fait peur et sa voix, même la terrorise : Ton de commande, ton du Maître à l esclave, ton qui fait vibrer les murs de la maison, ton qu il ne faut pas contester, ton sous lequel il faut se plier si l on ne veut pas voir la maison s écrouler et les vitres voler en éclats, ton qui désespère parce qu il croit protéger, sanctifier, faire fructifier. (46) La découverte de la vérité est inévitable. Et c est à partir du moment où la foudre tombe sur elle que tout le déroulement de sa vie va basculer dans le néant. Son père décide de la cloîtrer dans sa chambre, jugeant qu elle a trahi sa confiance, en enfreignant les règles. Son attitude est donc impardonnable, voire irréparable, et mérite une correction exemplaire. Il s est mis à clouer les volets de sa chambre, les uns après les autres. Chaque clou est un clou enfoncé dans sa chair, dans sa liberté, dans son espoir. Elle essaie de dire quelque chose, de se défendre, mais les sons sortent avec peine. Elle tremble de tous ses membres. (65-66) Isolée, elle a la sensation d étouffer, d être lentement asphyxiée. Impuissante, elle se bat contre un pouvoir totalitaire en affirmant son rejet de ses pratiques abusives. Elle élève sa voix contre les actes de violence extrême d un père intransigeant et cruel : 62

63 [Et] elle crie, elle crie qu elle ne veut pas de son dogme. Qu elle veut vivre, qu elle veut se connaître et se comprendre, comprendre la vie et cette énorme soif de justice qu elle sent au fond d elle-même. [...] Et l écho de son cri retentit dans la ville. Des centaines de voix crient avec elle dans la ville. Les femmes emprisonnées crient dans la ville. Les femmes se révoltent avec elle et rompent leurs chaînes avec elle. [...]. Et toute la ville retentit des cris de son cri. (73) Rien ne semble calmer sa rage et sa colère contre un père monstrueux et tyrannique, qui lui fait subir «des punitions moyenâgeuses» (Schmidt: 1994), contre sa mère, qu elle traite de peureuse et de soumise, incapable de la protéger ou de la défendre. Par cette résistance, une métamorphose s amorce en elle et des signes de rébellion véhiculent un message d insoumission, de désobéissance et de révolte contre un régime parental totalitaire dans lequel «elle reconnaît lucidement l abus du pouvoir non seulement des religions, mais des hommes en général» (ib.). Pour éviter le scandale qui entacherait leur réputation, ses parents décident de l emmener en Suisse pour l éloigner d une influence considérée comme satanique, en la plaçant dans un camp biblique avec sa sœur. Ils croient que ce voyage permettra de la guérir et lui faire retrouver «la paix, la vie en Jésus Christ, le salut et le pardon» (75). Mais pour l amoureuse au cœur brisé, cet éloignement rend son «été plus cruel et plus effrayant que tous les autres étés» (76). L intensité de ses sentiments amoureux continue de vibrer ardemment au fond de son être. Elle porte à jamais un amour qu elle «sent naître en elle, l amour qui permet de toujours renaître et de recommencer malgré tout» (77). Or, lors de la traversée sur le bateau, elle sympathise avec une jeune femme. Elle s ouvre à cette étrangère et lui parle de sa vie, de ses projets, de son amour avec P., de ses craintes et de ses doutes. Mais l étrangère est fortement ébranlée et commence à pleurer, elle lui dit d une voix tremblante : - Ne pars pas avec cet homme. Ne va jamais dans ce pays où tu crois que tu vas réaliser certains rêves, où tu crois que tu pourras vivre et être libre. Où tu crois qu une femme est respectée et peut se tenir à côté d un homme et avancer dans l égalité et le respect mutuels. Moi j en viens. Moi, je suis en train de le fuir. Je me cache car j ai peur d être poursuivie. J ai peur qu un de mes frères ne soit monté sur ce bateau et me ramène de force ou me tue, jetant mon corps dans cette mer. Cela serait facile. Qui le saurait? Qui le punirait d ailleurs, puisque la société approuve ces crimes et même les encourage. (83-84) La rencontre avec cette étrangère constitue un tournant majeur dans le déroulement du récit. Elle lui narre le drame de l excision et les souffrances qu endurent les jeunes filles à cause de cette mutilation cruelle et barbare. C est un point culminant dans le texte qui témoigne des horreurs et des blessures de cette pratique exercée violemment sur les femmes que vise à dénoncer l écrivaine. D ailleurs, le titre de son écrit renvoie à cette mutilation génitale féminine. E. qui n avait aucune connaissance de ce rituel va apprendre à travers la description de l égyptienne l ampleur des sévices infligés à des jeunes filles et même à des fillettes en bas âge : - Sais-tu ce qu on leur fait aux femmes là-bas, à l âge de la puberté, ou même avant, ou encore avant leur mariage si par mégarde, elles avaient réussi à échapper à la surveillance des vieilles? Connais-tu la souffrance dans la chair même, la brûlure, la déchirure, l arrachement de cet organe délicat et sensible logé entre les deux jambes, l excision, l ablation du nerf appelé clitoris, ce bouton du désir et les petites lèvres et les grandes lèvres elles aussi coupées, mutilées, excisées, et la plaie qui saigne et qui saigne et qui saigne à n en plus finir, et les jours et les semaines d immobilité dans le noir, les jambes attachées par des cordes, le corps secoué de spasmes, et le sentiment de honte terrible, et les cris des femmes, et la douleur lancinante et qui n en finit plus, quand tu sais que ton corps ne sera plus jamais le même, quand tu sens qu on t a enlevé quelque chose qui te donnait la possibilité de vibrer, de palpiter, quand tu as peur de mourir de tout ce sang qui s échappe de ton corps, quand tu sais qu on a transgressé ton corps, qu on t a déjà violée, qu on t a enlevé une partie de vie, et qu à la place on t a cousue, ficelée, fermée pour que tu ne puisses plus jamais respirer, t ouvrir à la vie, à la tendresse, à la rosée des matins du désert. Et que les femmes crient, 63

64 crient, crient, heureuses de se venger de ce dont la vie les a privées, elles aussi, heureuses de voir que le sang continue, que la souffrance ne s est pas arrêtée à leur propre corps et que le cercle infernal se perpétue, et tourne et tourne et tourne... (84-85) Par cette évocation terrible aux scènes déstabilisantes de boucheries humaines, l Égyptienne vise à prévenir E. du danger qui la guette, l exhorte de ne pas suivre cette voie qui va la mener vers un précipice sans fond, la priant de rester loin d un autre monde sanguinaire, inconnu pour elle, qui peut avoir des effets dévastateurs sur son devenir existentiel : Tu as vécu la guerre. Tu as vu l horreur du sang versé dans les rues, sur la terre, à l extérieur de toi, mais si tu devais vivre ce sang et cette honte et ces horreurs que tu m as décrites, ces corps mutilés, ces sexes arrachés, ces cadavres violés, si tu devais vivre tout cela à l intérieur de toi, dans ta chair même, alors que ferais-tu? (85-86) Mais E. qui ne peut concevoir qu une telle cruauté humaine à l égard de jeunes âmes innocentes et fragiles existe prend les avertissements de l étrangère pour du délire, incapable de saisir la portée de ses paroles alarmantes, sur la mutilation du corps féminin, puisque la «sexualité a toujours été un sujet tabou à la maison» (86). Et même si les descriptions de la jeune femme lui procurent un profond malaise et une inquiétante peur, son rêve demeure intact, celui d accompagner l être aimé à la maison de sa naissance pour «retrouver la boîte magique de son enfance» (77). Aussi, femme encagée, désire-t-elle échapper à son enfermement dans un Liban défiguré par la violence, quitter le foyer familial où elle vit une oppression perpétuelle pour découvrir l ailleurs, une autre vie. C est ici que le récit d Accad dessine une nouvelle voie qui tient dans ce geste courageux de E. qui surprend par un départ volontaire, définitif, pour arrêter de traîner le fardeau de l injustice, de l inégalité, des privations et des frustrations. Le seul moyen de vivre pleinement son amour est celui de l arrachement, de sortir de la nuit obscure, de s aventurer, de risquer pour atteindre la lumière du jour et l espoir d une vie meilleure. Elle décide de s enfuir «avec son amoureux qui représente le salut et l idéalisme d une Palestine libérée et, donc, la liberté» (ib.) : Le bateau s éloigne lentement de la côte libanaise. Ils sont l un près de l autre : un musulman-une chrétienne, mélange impossible mais réalisé grâce à l amour, grâce à la foi et grâce à l espérance d un monde meilleur, d un but commun du triomphe des forces de vie et de tendresse. Le bateau fend la même, la même mer qu elle a traversée quelques mois plus tôt avec sa famille. Aujourd hui, elle est avec lui. Elle regarde son profil fier. Elle aime son regard assoiffée de vision. Ses mains caressantes prennent les siennes et l attirent vers la cabine couchette. (95) La traversée se déroule dans une tendresse partagée, des découvertes sensuelles, du plaisir et de l abandon. Mais plus qu ils s approchent de leur destination finale, un écart se glisse entre eux et un «silence-mur» (101) les éloigne graduellement. P. perd de sa douceur et de sa sérénité habituelles, devenant agité et taciturne. Il s inquiète de l apparence de sa compagne et de manière catégorique exige d elle une présence discrète, voire effacée : - Il faudra que tu te voiles lorsque nous arriverons dans le village. Une femme doit se voiler si elle veut se faire respecter. Il ne faut pas que tu te différencies des autres. Je serai appelé de par mon rôle de professeur à avoir des grandes responsabilités auprès des autorités de la ville avoisinante. Je ne voudrais pas que les gens jasent. Déjà, ramener une chrétienne fera scandale. ( ) Ce que E. réalise soudainement, c est que les apparences sont trompeuses. P. articule un autre discours qui ne ressemble en rien à ses propos humanistes assoiffés de tolérance, de compréhension et de justice. Il affiche une force dominante, celle de l homme traditionnel, destructeur de la liberté féminine et de son épanouissement. Il s avère un fondamentaliste refusant l évolution complice de la léthargie du temps, prêt à accepter les coutumes imposées par son frère, venu les accueillir. Ce dernier s est chargé d apporter à la jeune mariée des habits conformes à son nouveau statut : 64

65 Il lui tend un long voile épais, une sorte de cape qui enveloppe et cache et un masque noir violet bleuté. Le masque se partage en deux du front au menton par une barre transversale qui donne l effet d un second nez. De chaque côté il y a des fentes pour les yeux : les œillères. Le masque est retenu par quatre élastiques d argent qui s attachent deux au-dessus des oreilles et deux sous les oreilles, le tout se ficelle derrière la tête. Il y a aussi une petite voilette noire transparente, pailletée d argent et d or : - Ceci est le signe que tu es jeune mariée, et que ton mari n est pas pauvre, dit le frère en brandissant la violette. (10) Son acte d affirmation et d amour pour atteindre la liberté est porteur d une réalité amère. E. qui rêvait de fonder avec son amoureux l union de deux vies, porteuse de joie, de plénitude et de relation fusionnelle, se trouve sujet sans voix, forcée de cacher un visage (1988, p. 248) pour éviter le regard de l autre, le mâle, de maintenir une distance et une séparation de son espace. Supportant difficilement cette étoffe lourde qui l étouffe, elle «a peur de suffoquer, de mourir asphyxiée» (106) sous le joug d une chaleur écrasante. Son cri intérieur traduit une douleur lancinante : La femme poussée derrière le voile est forcée à l intérieur d elle même Elle frappe contre les parois de son cœur et ses coups sont renvoyés contre le voile Elle regarde à l intérieur du voile son passé, son présent et son futur qui sont une même image Elle ne peut même pas pleure car ses larmes invisibles ne lui marquent que la peau derrière le voile Le regard de l autre n est jamais son reflet. (106) Le voyage marqué par une douleur silencieuse à bord d une voiture, aux occupants uniquement masculins, se termine dans un lieu englouti dans les terres désertiques dans d un pays du Golfe Arabe. Une fois la porte franchie de l enceinte fermée, elle se rend à l évidence qu elle ne peut se débarrasser ni de ses prisons intérieures, ni celles venant de l extérieur. Elle intègre la communauté des femmes où l espace privé est bien circonscrit, séparé de celui, public, réservé aux hommes. Totalement anéantie, elle voit tous ses rêves de construire avec P. un monde nouveau s anéantir. Désormais, elle n est qu une «femme transformée en forme, femme enfermée, femme enveloppée, femmeenveloppe, femme cousue, femme arrêtée par le voile» ( ), qui doit survivre et combattre tous les préjugés à son égard d intruse, étrangère et de surcroît chrétienne. En fait, en se révoltant contre l autorité paternelle, en choisissant le chemin de l exil pour oublier des souvenirs déchirants, elle affirme sa volonté de rupture avec un monde clos et cruel. Mais voilà qu en regardant des femmes passives qui répètent inlassablement les mêmes gestes, elle comprend que dans l espace familial et social, la subordination féminine est une règle de conduite et la domination masculine affirmée avec force (Bourdieu: 1988, p. 134). Ceci dit, de son côté, P. semble parfaitement bien à l aise dans ce milieu, agissant pour le bien de sa famille, de son clan aussi pour préserver sa réputation, en assurant la continuité de sa descendance. À ce sujet, Françoise Héritier confirme que : Ne pas transmettre la vie, c est rompre une chaîne dont nul n est l aboutissement ultime, et c est par ailleurs s interdire l accès au statut d ancêtre. Mariage et procréation sont des devoirs à l égard de ceux qui nous précédés dans l existence (1996, p. 260). Ceci dit, leurs pratiques sexuelles, dépourvues de plaisirs, s insèrent dans cette fonction du devoir conjugal, orientées dans «cette capacité d enfanter au service des lignées masculines et de la cité» (Knibiehler: 2012, P. 45). Il la triture, il la malaxe, il la pénètre. Il veut des enfants d elle. Il veut que ses entrailles sécrètent la compréhension qu il lui refuse. Il veut qu elle s entrouvre pour donner et non pour prendre, pour qu elle produise, pour qu elle serve, qu elle soit utile, pour que son ventre ne soit pas stérile, ne soit pas maudit par une sécheresse, par le souffle du désert qui brûle tout, pour prouver à son entourage qu il sait bien faire la semence, que la graine est bonne et que Dieu bénit sa moisson. ( ) 65

66 Mais le constat de la persistance de ses entrailles vides, sans vie naissante, déstabilise E., qui subit en silence et en totale obéissance, les multiples assauts de P., «qui la prend de droit, même par la force, par la violence» (Sami Tchak:1999, p. 60), obsédé par cette incapacité d enfanter. Apeurée, elle prie pour qu une force créatrice vienne atténuer ses angoisses et mettre fin au supplice d une entente vaine et désespérée qui a trop longtemps duré. Cet état de stérilité accentue doublement son infériorité, la marginalise encore plus et même les femmes de la maison, hostiles à sa présence, ne lui ménage aucune compassion féminine : Les femmes commencent à chuchoter entre elles en regardant le ventre d E. Son ventre est toujours très plat malgré les nuits laborieuses et P. s inquiète. Il veut des enfants, beaucoup d enfants. Un ventre plat, c est mauvais signe. C est signe que la semence ne prend pas et qu il a mal fait les labours. C est signe qu un sort a peut-être été jeté et que ses désirs ne seront pas comblés. (113) Ainsi, vivant à la lisière de deux pays, de deux religions et de diverses traditions culturelles, E. qui, profondément attachée à sa famille, contrainte à l exil pour vivre l amour, n a eu pour seul horizon qu un enfermement physique et moral sous un soleil de plomb. Elle partage son quotidien avec des femmes aux vies suppliciées, des histoires de souffrances et de rêves brisés, acceptant la loi des hommes avec son autorité abusive. Car, comme le soutient Pierre Bourdieu, Le plus étonnant, ce n est pas qu il y ait domination, d une personne sur une autre, d un sexe sur un autre, d une classe sur une autre. C est qu elle soit acceptée ou tolérée par les dominés, qui n y trouvent pourtant que souffrances, humiliation ou pauvreté (ib., 45). Il convient d indiquer que dans cet endroit isolé au désert où les hommes règnent en maîtres des lieux, les femmes, condamnées à être dans leurs ombres, ne remettent pas en cause la situation de leur subordination. Pour elles, cela relève d une simple évidence qui s inscrit dans l ordre naturel des choses. Le premier récit de la Genèse, le plus ancien, donne priorité à l homme dans l ordre de la création. Adam a été façonné le premier, à partir de la glèbe. Dieu n a pas trouvé bon qu il soit seul : il l a endormi et, de sa côte ou de son côté, il a fait naître la femme et l a donnée à l homme comme compagne. La femme a donc été créée pour l homme, pour son bonheur et son service, et pour lui assurer une progéniture (Knibiehler: ib, p. 51) Alors que E. se sent bannie, exclue, en dehors d elle-même et du monde, menacée dans son union avec à P., son vœu est miraculeusement exaucé et son ventre accepte de garder la bonne semence parmi celles éjectées en elle, pour «former le moment unique de cette création d un être» (114). C est que selon Héritier, [...] ce qui donne à la jeune fille le statut de femme, ce n est ni la perte de la virginité ni le mariage ni même la maternité : c est la conception. Il suffit d une grossesse, dont il importe peu qu elle soit suivie d une fausse couche ou d une naissance (ib, p. 78) La manifestation de sa maternité, considérée selon Michel Erlich, comme une fonction valorisée et valorisante 3, * contribue à son admission dans le cercle des femmes du clan, respectées et honorées, par leur capacité reproductive. Or, ce moment d enchantement et d excitation, qui doit être célébré dans la joie du partage avec son époux, elle le vit seule. Durant la période de l avancement et de transformation de son corps, elle est abandonnée avec ses peines et ses gémissements qui reviennent constamment. Elle cherche P. pour avoir sa présence à ses côtés, son soutien et aussi son amour, mais il est introuvable. En fait, depuis l explosion de son ventre, «ayant donc accompli son devoir et ne servant plus à rien» (Schmidt: ib), son mari a déserté la maisonnée et demeure loin d elle, préférant «rester dans la ville qui nourrit ses aspirations, ses ambitions, son orgueil, son narcissisme» (118). Durant sa période d attente de délivrance, les jours passent lentement et tristement. Elle se trouve cantonnée dans une maison au bout du monde où règnent le silence et la terreur. 3 Pour Michel Erlich, «La femme est une moitié obscure, dangereuse, associée aux forces des ténèbres et de façon générale à toutes les fonctions dévalorisantes, exceptée la maternité» (1995, p. 274). 66

67 Et les femmes qui tiennent au respect les traditions, se préparent pour célébrer un rituel séculaire, instaurant des règles barbares, obligeant les filles à être consentantes et courageuses, et à obéir en acceptant malgré elle de se faire mutiler, sans chercher à comprendre ce qu on va faire à leurs corps, parce que c est un rite de passage obligatoire. Grâce à son statut d étrangère et à son état de grossesse, elle s est mise à la marge d un monde féminin arrêté dans le temps, observant des agissements frénétiques qui animent une cour où règne une atmosphère d effroyable terreur. Elle va être témoin direct de l amputation sexuelle de jeunes filles paralysées par la peur qui se suivent une à une, pour intégrer l arène de la souffrance et de l horreur. Elle relate avec minutie le déroulement de cet acte sanglant et barbare, livrant un des témoignages les plus poignants sur l excision. En fait, dans son récit où l effroi joue une part essentielle, elle défait les nœuds et laisse dire courageusement ce qui a toujours été tu et caché. Petit à petit, la narration cède la place à une réflexion profonde et sérieuse sur le drame de la mutilation sexuelle féminine : Et les femmes ont saisi la première fillette. Elles la tiennent de tous les côtés. Elles lui soulèvent la robe et la font s asseoir sur un tabouret qui surplombe un bol blanc. Elles lui écartent les jambes et exposent son sexe rasé qui luit sous le soleil. Le regard de la fillette est fixe comme sous l effet d un hypnotisme. La sage-femme écarte les grandes lèvres et les petites lèvres. Elle fait jaillir le clitoris apprêté par des mois de frottement à l ortie. Et la femme-sorcière tranche le clitoris et le jette dans le bol. La fille hurle de douleur. Et le sang coule. Les femmes tiennent la fillette plus fermement. La sorcière continue son œuvre de mutilation. Elle découpe les grandes lèvres, comme de grandes oreilles rouges de peur, qui vont rejoindre le clitoris dans le bol. Le sang coule à flots maintenant et les cris de la fillette ressemblent à ceux d un chien qu on égorge. Les autres fillettes sont secouées de tremblements, mais leur visage est impassible. Elles ont été préparées pendant des mois. Elles savent qu elles doivent passer par là pour devenir femmes, qu elles ne pourront pas se marier si elles ne sont pas découpées et recousues, qu elles ne doivent pas montrer qu elles ont peur si elles veulent être considérées comme femmes et non comme enfants. Et la sorcière a terminé son massacre. Les petites lèvres ont été, elles aussi, tranchées et nivelées. Le sexe devrait être tout lisse et net, sans ambiguïté masculine, mais il n est qu une plaie béante, boursouflée et saignante. Et le sang coule sur les jambes et la robe de la fillette qui hurle. Et les femmes crient et chantent en scandant un rythme. Et ces chants noient les cris de l enfant. Les femmes chantent leur revanche. ( ) Déchirant, troublant ce passage-là qui permet à Accad de pendre part, d une façon romancée 4, * dans une dénonciation violente et explicite de l excision qui renforce l état de victimisation éternelle de l être féminin. Dans sa description détaillée, elle met l accent sur l organisation sacrificielle de cette pratique sanglante immuable, sur laquelle ne s appuie pas uniquement la cohésion sociale et religieuse de la communauté, mais aussi le maintien d une violence inouïe, perpétrée farouchement par des fidèles gardiennes, à travers le temps qui passe. René Girard indique que : La préparation sacrificielle, on le voit, consiste en actions très diverses, parfois opposées mais toutes parfaitement adaptées au but recherché ; la pensée religieuse se dirige vers une prescience infaillible vers ce but ; elle réalise sans le savoir toutes les conditions de l efficacité cathartique. Elle ne cherche jamais qu à reproduire la 4 La tragédie de l excision a été évoquée dans certains écrits. Citons à titre d exemple le roman de l écrivaine camerounaise Calixthee Beyala.Tu t appeleras Tanga, Paris, Stock, 1988, 202 p. et La première partie «la moitié mutilée», dans le livre de l Égyptienne Nawal Saadawi. La Face cachée d Ève. Les femmes dans le monde arabe, Paris, Éditions des Femmes, 1982, 411p. Tahar Ben Jelloun, lui aussi, a abordé ce thème dans son roman La Nuit sacrée, Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 1987, 189 p. Voici sa description de la souffrance et de la douleur infligées à la protagoniste de son roman : «Pendant qu elle parlait, deux de ses compagnes me ligotèrent les mains sur la table glacée. Elles me déchirèrent mon saroual et levèrent mes jambes en l air. La gardienne, habituée des lieux, leur indiqua deux crochets au plafond. Elle leur fournit les cordes de chaque côté. L aînée me mit un chiffon mouillé dans la bouche. Elle posa sa main gantée sur mon bas-ventre, écrasa de ses doigts les lèvres de mon vagin jusqu à faire bien sortir ce qu elle appelait «le petit chose», l aspergea d un produit, sortit d une boîte métallique une lame de rasoir qu elle trempa dans l alcool et me coupa le clitoris. En hurlant intérieurement je m évanouis», p

68 violence fondatrice de façon aussi exacte que possible (1973, p ). La prise de position de l écrivaine est d autant plus puissante qu elle permet de présenter l immensité tragique et horrifiante de l excision sur plusieurs niveaux. Tout d abord, cette mutilation féminine apparaît comme un rituel diabolique accompli par une «femme-sorcière» qui s insère à l intérieur de ces rites qui «constituent un prodigieux instrument de conservation religieuse et sociale. Ils assurent la domination des générations les plus anciennes sur les générations nouvelles» (ib, p.396). En fait, ce sont les femmes mères, grand-mères et autres membres de la communauté qui perpétuent cette pratique pénible qui renforce l assujettissement des femmes «jusque dans leur corps» (Héritier: p. 207). Dans l ordre naturel des choses, celles qui ont été mutilées le font subir à d autres jeunes filles afin d assurer leur intégration au sein du groupe, et de contribuer à façonner leur image et à purifier leur pour les préparer à devenir des vraies femmes. De fait, dans la tradition l excision qui sert à rendre les filles «pures et belles»(carbonne: 2011, p. 71) marque, selon Couchard «une coupure symbolique [...] signifiant que la fille allait désormais appartenir à un sexe bien défini, celui des femmes" (2003, p. 51) Cela ne peut donc être qu un être recevable pour assurer l acte de mutilation féminine. D après Natacha Carbonne, le groupe de femmes qui participent à la réalisation sacrificielle interviennent en trois points : Elles sont exciseuses, victimes et témoins de l acte (seules les femmes assistent à l excision). Elles ont ce statut paradoxal de victimes et de complices du phallocratisme intégré dans leur inconscient. La pression serait masculine et l action serait féminine car, en effet, c est une femme qui tient le couteau de l excision (ib: p69). Cette situation ambiguë d être à la fois victimes et complices, amène l écrivaine à responsabiliser, voire à accuser les femmes d être les pires ennemies de leurs consœurs, les maintenant dans l oppression, dans la soumission et dans la subordination. C est que «conditionnées à s offrir en victimes et, en raison de leur inconscience, elles transmettent cette inclination à la génération suivante» (Mananzan: 1994, p 73). Accad insiste justement sur le rôle joué par les vieilles femmes, farouches garantes des coutumes et «gardiennes de la tradition» (Barbara El-Khoury: 2004, p. 21.), mais qui révèle aussi un aspect souterrain dans leur comportement, celui de la frustration d être exclues du cercle de la séduction et de n avoir plus aucune emprise sur les hommes. Elles manifestent leur amertume et leur rancœur à l égard des jeunes filles à la fleur de l âge en les martyrisant dans des gestes marqués de brutalité, de cruauté, voire de sadisme 5, * qui peuvent être compris comme l expression de leur vengeance, fût-elle consciente ou inconsciente : Mutilées inconscientes Les femmes crient dans la plaine Les femmes chantent dans l enceinte En se souvenant du même couteau du même bourreau, du même sang Et l enfant pleure la douleur de l oiseau mort à la croisée des routes. (123) Accad poursuit sa dénonciation acerbe et virulente, en indiquant que ce qui est révoltant dans le comportement des femmes, c est leur indifférence à la douleur et à la souffrance des filles mutilées, dont les gémissements sont comme des cris d animaux blessés. De plus, elles expriment leur joie et leur jubilation au moment crucial du sacrifice qui va réduire les jeunes filles à des mortes vivantes, dépourvues de sensations et privées de plaisirs : 5 Dehors les filles continuent de hurler. Les femmes chantent et scandent des rythmes pour noyer les hurlements de ces jeunes femmes à qui on vient de couper la vie, à qui on vient de trancher le frémissement de la joie, l échange du regard amoureux, l appel du partage désiré, la voix du voulu, le don et la demande exprimés sans peur et sans pudeur, l ivresse de l extase à deux dans l accomplissement de gestes différents qui s harmonisent pour un chant commun pour une lumière commune pour une victoire nourrie dans l amour pour une liberté tissée de tendre El-Khoury souligne que le sadisme des vieilles femmes «et leur violence deviennent si effroyables qu aucune personne ne prend en charge de dilacérer les organes sexuels des fillettes», Ibid., p

69 pour une égalité respectant les différences de l autre. ( ) Il important de souligner que la colère et la révolte aussi éprouvées qu éprouvantes traversent la description de l horreur dans l acte de réalisation de l excision. Les images présentées par Accad annoncent l insensibilité marquante des exciseuses et l interminable souffrance de fillettes enchaînées, écartelées et terrorisées de subir les coupures 6* des «grandes lèvres» de leur organe génital et de leur clitoris qu on jette dans un bol tels des débarras maudits. Elle rappelle constamment l omniprésence du sang qui «coule à flot» et qui donne à ce rituel cruel sa valeur sacro-mythique. Abdelwhab Bouhdiba indique que l écoulement du sang est déterminant, voire essentiel dans la finalisation des pratiques réservées aux deux sexes : La défloration est l équivalent de la circoncision ; l hymen est l équivalent du prépuce. De même que la circoncision permet la transformation d un garçon en homme et le rend digne de devenir père, la défloration permet la transformation d une fille en femme et la rend digne de devenir mère. Pour les deux sexes, le rite veut que le sang coule et que les corps soient marqués. Le corps sont ainsi associés à l œuvre divine (Knibiehler:pp ). L écrivaine présente également l enchaînement du cérémonial de l excision qui consiste dans la procession des femmes qui, satisfaites d avoir accomplies leurs devoirs, se dirigent vers le fleuve en récitant Le Coran («O Prophète / Lorsque les croyantes viennent à toi / en te prêtant serment d allégeance / et en jurant / qu elles n associent rien à Dieu / qu elles ne voleront pas / qu elles ne se livreront pas à l adultère, / qu elles ne tueront pas leurs propres enfants, / qu elles ne commettront aucune infâmie / ni avec leurs mains, ni avec leurs pieds, / qu elles ne désobéiront pas en ce qui est convenable / reçois alors leur serment d allégeance. / Demande pardon à Dieu pour elles. / Dieu est celui qui pardonne, il est miséricordieux», ). Les mères 7 se chargent de jeter «le contenu des bols dans le fleuve» (129). C est 6 Voir Christine Bellas-Cabane. La coupure. L excision ou les identitaires religieuses, Paris, La Dispute, Dans le huitième chapitre intitulé «Mutiler les femmes pour exister», Patrick Banon souligne la complicité des mères dans l excision de leurs filles, in dans le respect et le maintien de gestes et d actions répétitifs venus d un autre temps que l ordre social et religieux assure son solide ancrage dans la communauté. Pour Jean-Jacques Wunenburger, La participation à un rite sacremental, à une conduite éminemment répétitive, permet de vivre et d exprimer une double fidélité : au monde des dieux dont le rite réaffirme pleinement la puissance fondatrice, à la communauté religieuse ensuite, dont il reproduit une forme scrupuleusement conservé à travers le temps (Jean-Jacques Wunenburger: 1982, p. 36). L un des enjeux importants dans l écriture dénonciatrice et contestataire d Accad à l égard de l excision, c est sa quête de compréhension de ce phénomène tragique qui bafoue la liberté des femmes. Dans sa réflexion pertinente, elle avance diverses raisons qui sont liées aux coutumes, à la tradition et à la religion. Une première justification de cette pratique relève des coutumes établies qui instaurent l ordre des choses. Elle est considérée comme un rite d intégration au sein de la communauté. En effet, les femmes excisées exigent que, pour être femme accomplie, il faut vivre pleinement cette expérience. Tout femme non mutilée est considérée étrangère et se situe en dehors du cercle féminin. Elle est taxée d impure, inachevée et risque même d être accusée «d avoir eu des relations sexuelles avant le mariage» (Banon. Ces p. 204). C est ce qui s est produit avec E., même étant mariée et enceinte, quand une vieille femme de l assemblée s est approchée d elle et lui a soulevé la robe, l interpellant directement : Es-tu Excisée, toi l Etrangère? Comment cela se fait-il chez vous? Pries-tu Dieu de la même façon que nous? [ ] Toutes les femmes sourient derrière leurs masques. Elles s approchent toutes d elle avec leurs mains tendues pour soulever sa robe et pour voir. (137) C est une audace déroutante, une insulte même envers E. Apeurée, terrifiée à l idée Ces femmes martyres de l intégrisme, Paris, Armand Collin, 2010, pp

70 qu on lui inflige ce châtiment corporel, et furieuse, elle s est demandée : Comment se protéger, comment se défendre contre ces femmes qui semblent assoiffées de sang et de sexes ensanglantés? (137) L excision est aussi un élément capital de la tradition dont les fondements transcendent l évolution du temps, maintenus dans une transmission d une génération à l autre. Quand E. demande à une femme qui était présente lors de la cérémonie de l excision, le pourquoi d une telle mutilation féminine, celle-ci lui répond tout simplement : - C est la tradition. Les hommes ne l épouseraient pas. Elle ne serait pas acceptée si elle n était pas excisée. Il ne faut pas y penser. Ne sois pas triste. (134) Même son mari semble être du même avis lui reprochant la faiblesse de son être devant de telles cruautés inhumaines : - C est la tradition. Tu n aurais pas dû venir ici si tu étais aussi douillette. (139) La dernière raison qui renvoie à la religion est justifiée par le fait que les mutilations sexuelles féminines sont souvent assimilées à l Islam. Dans l espace narratif du texte, une autre femme plus âgée informe E. que cette pratique est obligatoire, une règle sacrée. Son application justifie que par la volonté divine, la fatalité du destin des femmes est remplie de larmes, de douleurs et de souffrances : - Il le faut ma petite, il le faut. Dieu l a prescrit. Il faut être pure. La circoncision c est la purification. Et elle lève les bras au ciel vers Allah en ajoutant : - Toute notre vie, nous, femmes, n est que souffrance. Dieu l a prescrit. (135) Pour Accad, recourir à un tel argument, prouve que les femmes sont endoctrinées depuis longtemps et qu elles sont, selon Hanny Lightfoot-klien, «prisonnières d un rituel» (1989, P. 306) séculaire. C est le recours à la religion par les hommes à des fins dominatrices des femmes qu il faut dénoncer car, comme le souligne Tchak, «les hommes ont plutôt utilisé l islam pour renforcer leur propre pouvoir sur les femmes» (ib., 81). Ce qui est certain, comme l avance Françoise Couchard, c est que l excision semble avoir été pratiquée à l époque anté-islamique, mais que dans le Livre sacré des musulmans, aucune mention de cette pratique n est indiquée : La circoncision et l excision ne sont signalées que dans les hadiths (Fatâwa Hindya) et encore quelques-uns le contestent-ils. Ni l une ni l autre de ces pratiques ne répondent donc à une prescription religieuse impérative. La circoncision elle-même n est qu «un acte Sunna, c est-à-dire fortement recommandé, l excision des filles est encore moins obligatoire. C est une Makruma : une pratique pieuse, tout comme le fait d écarter de la route une pierre, de curer une canalisation publique ou d entretenir un point d eau collectif» (Abdelwahab Bouhdiba: 1975, p. 214). Par là, il faut entendre que la clitoridectomie (ablation du clitoris en entier) serait interdite par l islam, seule serait tolérée l ablation du capuchon du clitoris. Un récit traditionnel rapporte d ailleurs que le Prophète, en voyant opérer une exciseuse nommée Um Attya, lui recommanda : «Effleurez et n épuisez point. Le visage embellira et le mari sera ravi» (Couchard: ib., p. 58) Certes l écrivaine accuse l homme qui au nom de la religion étouffe l être féminin et appelle à contester sa domination abusive. Elle appelle aussi à lutter contre cette pratique sadique et répandue qui blesse les femmes dans leur corps et dans leur dignité. Sa parole rejoint ces multiples voix qui se sont élevées pour mettre «l excision en procès» (Martine Lefeuvre-Déotte: 1997, p. 337 ) À sa manière, Accad dénonce cette mutilation ignoble et dévastatrice, considérée comme un sacrifice «protégé» puisqu elle n est jamais réprimandée par la communauté humaine. Après l excision des fillettes, E. se révolte : Elle crie contre les coutumes qui transforment pour réduire Elle crie contre les femmes qui mutilent leurs filles Elle crie contre les hommes qui réclament la vierge contre les hommes qui veulent une circoncie contre les hommes qui demandent un vagin cousu et boursouflé de sang. (125) Le thème de l excision apparaît comme un leitmotiv dans cet écrit, mais il y a aussi 70

71 d autres thèmes très pertinents, toutes les autres histoires autour. Toute une trame narrative prise avec une réalité dure, celle de décrire la douleur, la souffrance, l injustice, l oppression et l humiliation des femmes. En fait, même si les préoccupations de la mutilation sont au centre du récit, la réflexion prend le pas sur l action, et l histoire se resserre davantage sur la révolte, la dénonciation et la quête de liberté, voire de libération. La chronologie des événements depuis la rencontre de E. avec P. jusqu au drame final fait plonger le lecteur dans la dévastation qu elle a subie et vécue. Sa voix brisée et étouffée est celle de toutes les femmes arabes, et par extension, de toutes les damnées de la terre. Dans la discussion qu elle entame avec son époux, elle découvre amèrement que la possession est devenue appropriation, et que son rêve de bonheur et de liberté est bafoué et a tourné au drame. - Et que veux-tu que je fasse? Que je m affiche avec toi comme les hommes occidentaux? Ta place est ici parmi les femmes. C est là que tu dois travailler. Moi je travaille au- dehors avec les hommes, dans la ville. C est là que j essaie d améliorer la condition de mon peuple. (139) E. remet en cause le recours facile de l homme au raisonnement coutumier et traditionnel pour imposer son autorité. Elle le met en garde contre toute dérive comportementale en lui rappelant qu ils étaient venus ensemble pour «changer les traditions, pour que la femme s élève côte à côte avec l homme» (140). Et quand elle précise qu ils étaient censés agir en tant qu êtres liés par un amour inébranlable, sincère et respectueux, pour montrer une autre image du couple, il se dévoile être aussi machiste que son père : - Le couple, c est une notion occidentale. Elle n a pas de place dans le monde arabe. Quand comprendras-tu que le monde arabe c est l Islam et l Islam le monde arabe? (140) Ne pouvant accepter une telle réplique, elle réagit vivement en soulignant sa foi conjuguée à son identité, mais qu elle est avant tout une femme qui réclame le droit de vivre dignement et d aimer. Pour elle, leur rencontre n avait-t-elle pas un but noble à savoir celui de boire à la source de son enfance? - Non, non et non. Je suis Chrétienne et Arabe, Arabe et Chrétienne. Je suis aussi une femme, surtout une femme et je veux vivre. Et je veux que toi et moi soyons différents, que nous donnions l exemple. Écoute-moi, écoute-moi bien. Ne veux-tu pas que nous retrouvions toi et moi la boîte magique de ton enfance? (140) Mais P. est devenu autre, un étranger éloigné d elle, enfermé dans des principes rigides et archaïques. Les propos durs qu il lui jette à la figure confirment son changement total : - La boîte de mon enfance... Comment as-tu pu croire cette histoire? Tu es vraiment naïve. Quand comprendras-tu que le monde ne se crée pas avec des rêves et avec des illusions, mais avec des faits, avec des chiffres et avec de l argent. (141) À cet instant de la narration, un renversement capital va se produire qui permet à l écrivaine de rendre hommage au caractère rebelle de la femme arabe. En effet, E. qui s est révoltée une fois contre la tyrannie parentale en coupant définitivement les liens avec sa famille tant aimée et chérie, ne peut admettre un nouvel abus de la part de son conjoint. Ayant subi en silence l humiliation, son rejet et son indifférence, elle se révolte : le quitter, ne plus porter son enfant, sans chercher à s apitoyer ni de solution provisoire pour calmer sa rage. Au plus profond de l exil et de ses malheurs, de ses larmes sous le voile de ses nuits tristes, elle se tient debout pour que l enfant qui est dans son ventre (si elle est une fille) ne subisse pas le même sort que ces créatures silencieuses, des ombres noires enveloppées dans les affres de la douleur et de la souffrance au quotidien. Elle veut reprendre le combat et la lutte avec elle-même pour ne pas sombrer, au nom de la liberté féminine, voire humaine. La voix qui vibrait en elle se manifeste forte. Avec sa parole intime, elle lance un appel collectif pour que les femmes brisent les chaînes de l assujettissement et de l aliénation, se solidarisent pour renverser l ordre des choses établi par les hommes : 71

72 Femme, lève-toi de derrière ton voile Femme refuse cette emprise sur toi cette force qui t annule Femme, fais entendre ta voix qui n est que l ébauche d un tremblement Car, pour le moment, ta voix est comme le violon des nuits du désert Il faut qu elle s unisse aux autres voix des voiles aux autres mains des matins Et que toutes ces mains et toutes ces voix prennent l épée et la transforment en rose, en terre et en jardin. (118) Décidant encore une fois de fuir, elle part avec Nour 8, * la petite fille de l espoir qui l avait soulagée un jour de profonde peine en lui offrant des dattes. Elles partent ensemble, bravant tous les dangers possibles, vers le port où un gros paquebot blanc se dresse devant elles. Pour E. Esperia, c est «le bateau de l espoir et de la vie retrouvés» (156). Elle rencontre par hasard l étrangère, l égyptienne, celle qui avait fait le voyage avec elle, il y a bien des années. Les deux femmes réunies fument en silence : Elles se regardent et se comprennent. C est tout un monde qui parle à travers cet échange de leur regard voilé par la fumée de la cigarette un monde de la souffrance et de l oppression, le monde du silence et de l acceptation, le monde de l abnégation et du don de soi, mais aussi le monde de la révolte et des soubresauts vers les régions de vie et de liberté. (158) En effet, l Égyptienne n a plus la peur au ventre, pouvant «même retourner dans son pays sans peur et sans amertume» (170). Depuis leur dernière rencontre, elle a trouvé refuge en Suisse, et a eu la chance de cheminer avec un homme qui l aide à panser les blessures du passé, à s épanouir et à s affirmer comme femme entière. Et comme elle voyage à bord du navire en compagnie de son garçon et de sa fille, E. lui demande de prendre Nour avec eux. Il faut la sauver des griffes meurtrières des traditions avilissantes et des coutumes humiliantes. L Égyptienne accepte de le faire et c est ici que le chemin 8 «- Nour, ma lumière, mon soleil, tu es ma vie, dit E. en prenant la petite fille dans ses bras et en s arrêtant au bord d une dune», (149). de E. de Nour se sépare. Et l on verra chacune réagir ou agir différemment. La même réalité, le même enfer vécu, rien de cela n empêche l individualité, la singularité des êtres. En les quittant, E. se dirige «là où son image l attend, là où son présent, son passé et son futur sont entremêlés en un point qui tourbillonne et l appelle» (161). Elle est arrivée au bord du fleuve, près de la mer. Elle a regardé son image qui se reflétait dans l eau verte, reflet qu elle avait déjà contemplé tant de fois, comprenant l appel caché des flots et de la vague. Sans la moindre hésitation, elle a pénétré la vague, elle a avancé dans son image qui l attendait. Elle a avancé dans l eau qui s est refermée sur elle. Elle est allée vers le repos. Elle est allée vers le silence. (162) Sachant qu elle ne saura rien faire de sa liberté arrachée et que l horizon est sombre, elle met un terme à son désarroi et à son errance. Elle ne peut échapper à son destin et son geste du désespoir, alors qu elle porte la vie en elle, fait écho à son impuissance et à son épuisement aussi bien physique que mental : Elle s est déjà révoltée une fois. Elle a déjà traversé les mers une fois. Que faut-il faire maintenant? Faut-il continuer de se révolter indéfiniment? Et comment se révolter maintenant? Faut-il continuer de se révolter indéfiniment? Et comment se révolter maintenant? Ou se tourner? Que faire? Et à quoi sert sa révolte si toutes les femmes ne se révoltent pas avec elle? Le cas de la jeune égyptienne du bateau lui revient à l esprit. Cas isolé? Combien d autres y en a-t-il? Comment prendre toutes ces femmes et en faire une chaîne solide qui rompra toutes les autres chaînes? Et les frères armés de poignards qui suivent pour les égorger? Et toute la société derrière qui pousse les frères à tuer leurs sœurs pour venger l honneur à tout prix? (136) Le départ vers la Suisse peut sauver Nour, comme il a été un acquis libérateur et salvateur pour l Égyptienne. De son côté, E. avec ses rêves et ses espoirs, ses illusions aussi, a tenté de partir mais elle n a pas réussi à franchir le mur de l enceinte de l oubli et de la violence. Un simple constant dans cette lutte incessante de ces deux femmes contre 72

73 l étouffement, l enfermement, les mots de silence, le désespoir, une s en sort, l autre absolument pas. Si l Égyptienne a trouvé l amour et la compréhension auprès d un homme qui l a délivrée des blessures de son passé, E., par contre, a vu se dresser entre elle et P. des barrières insurmontables qui ont détruit l élan d un amour plein de promesses entre eux. Les voies des deux femmes se rencontrent et se séparent de nouveau, mais, cette fois-ci, définitivement. Et chacune vit son destin. L Égyptienne rejoint la vie et E. choisit de la quitter. On sort de ce récit cruel, tragique d Évelyne Accad, la tête pleine de questions. Et foncièrement troublé. Son livre marqué par cette «écriture de la douleur» (Evelyne Accad: 1997, pp ) aborde un tabou dominant dans la société arabe. L écrivaine dénonce le pouvoir abusif des hommes et l aveuglement idéologique des traditions séculaires, point d appui d une mentalité archaïque, une dimension non pas seulement régionale mais universelle. En affirmant ses engagements, préoccupée par la condition des femmes, elle offre un témoignage avec une véracité vécue et démesurée dans un monde où règnent la peur et la violence sans limite et sans fond. Il y a aussi la souffrance, la douleur, les déchirures et les blessures qui maintiennent les femmes dans un état perpétuel d infériorité et de soumission. En fait, son écrit dévoile une vision du monde menaçante, de plus en plus défaillante. La pratique cruelle et sanguinaire du sacrifice féminin est malheureusement toujours présente. Et Accad soutient que la menace et l injustice ne peuvent disparaître que par une volonté humaine collective qui œuvre pour assurer le respect des femmes et leur libération dans des sociétés qui continuent à afficher à leur égard cruauté et sadisme. Cet état de fait n a pas cessé de soulever de la révolte et de la contestation. Mais d après elle, le travail déterminant reste à faire. Pour qu un véritable changement intervienne dans les mentalités, l urgence et la nécessité d une prise de conscience des femmes elles-mêmes s impose afin de bousculer le pouvoir masculin trop longtemps dominateur. L écriture d Accad présente sa particularité et son autorité, ses références et ses préoccupations, ses armes et ses larmes. Elle aborde la tragédie de la guerre du Liban, avec son lot de massacres au quotidien, de morts, de haines et de séparations entre les communautés, mais elle demeure concernée par la tragédie de toute guerre quelle que soit son ampleur et n importe où elle se trouve. C est que pour elle, toute guerre est une aberration humaine et historique. Par ses réflexions soutenues, elle soulève autant d idées de clichés et d innombrables stéréotypes. Elle réalise également des traversées de langues, de religions et des cultures. Aussi, en enrichissant son texte par des références bibliques et coraniques, faitelle entrecroiser les écritures donnant la place au chant, créant une voix qui se cherche dans l étouffement d une condition millénaire, voix qui se transforme en cri pour enfreindre les règles du silence. Car c est bien là dans l éclatement de ce silence arabe, que la femme éternellement sacrifiée, peut trouver sa liberté, et abattre les cloisons de peur et de frayeur, entre elle-même et ce qui la sépare du monde. Par L excisée et autres réalisations, l écrivaine maintient son idée que la littérature ne peut pas résoudre tous les problèmes ni apporter des réponses judicieuses à toutes les questions, mais elle est capable de les clamer et les éclairer. À vrai dire, les écrits d Accad dans leurs multiples formes d expression, continuent à être de première importance à l heure actuelle. Sa production littéraire variée s inscrit en effet dans une démarche à la fois militante et courageuse à travers laquelle elle s interroge sur les maux collectifs propres à notre temps et à notre société, tout en essayant de les dénoncer grâce à la puissance transcendante des mots. Ce faisant, les enjeux de son écriture présentent des problématiques qui sont pertinentes non seulement dans le monde arabe mais dans l'ensemble de la planète où la condition féminine reste un sujet d'actualité. 73

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