Dissident or Conformist Passing: Merzak Allouache’s Chouchou

Abstract

Merzak Allouache’s 2003 Chouchou tells the story of a transidentified undocumented Algerian immigrant who has just arrived in Paris. Like Allouache’s other films, it invites the viewer to think about the articulation between culture and masculinity. More specifically, Chouchou presents us with unusually ambiguous narratives of passing and crossing-over that complicate the traditional French-Algerian postcolonial paradigm. To the extent that issues of gender and ethnicity are never separated, it is never clear whether Chouchou’s attempts to pass (as a woman or as a refugee) should or can be interpreted as moments of opposition or conformism. In Chouchou , cross-dressing both reiterates the norm and serves to highlight differences within masculinity and femininity as well as within ethnicity. This paper analyses the film’s contribution to the recent debate about how Western democracies use their definition of sexual freedom as a political weapon. Does Chouchou avoid the risk of reinforcing the stereotypical opposition between the homophobic native land and the xenophobic adopted country? Or how does Allouache’s double critique of Algerian and French inhospitality to sexual or national others succeed in opening up new spaces? Neither femininity nor France constitutes an ideal or idealized destination for a migrant who must constantly renegotiate his objectives. The process of constantly deferred arrival also redefines Algeria as a multiple site of origin: just as Chouchou does not become a (Western) woman, he was never simply an Algerian (man). Chouchou thus invites us to ascertain to what extent the relationship between cross dressing, dissidence and/or conformism changes in each specific context.

Passing as a Form of Adaptation: The Islamic Nuances of the Christians and Catholics

“…Passing is a product of social practice, the ability of individual or communal to adopt the appearance and social identity of a category that is not constructed as his or her natural biological and group of social home. 12 It means that an individual who intends to pass, he/she must adapt to his/her new condition, and certainly, it depends on the context and social situation wherein, an individual tries to embroil within.…”

Queering the Migrant in Contemporary European Cinema

“…Unlike Fariba in Fremde Haut , this narrative of victimhood that Chouchou creates may allow for refuge in France. As Mireille Rosello (2011 ) has pointed out, there are clear reasons why Chouchou would have chosen to take on the identity of a Chilean asylum seeker, as it shifts any sort of potential blame or guilt for a colonial past from the French on to another. Hence, France can emerge as hospitable.…”

“…French and North African literature and film, see Rosello (2001 ). 2 Neither queer nor transgender has been immune to critique.…”

“…A shocked Daniel remains impassive as more members of the gang file into his apartment, appraise the place as if they were prospective buyers, and start drinking and dancing. In what seems a deliberate elaboration of what Mireille Rosello has described as the 'metaphor' of hospitality, which casts the relationship between native and migrant in terms of host and guest, the movie temporarily entertains the xenophobic and paranoid fantasy of the 'guests taking over the house' (see Rosello 2001 ). 4 Fittingly, this 'chapter' or part of the film is preceded by a caption that reads, 'Cette fête dont je suis l'otage' (This party of which I'm the hostage).…”