Transmission and Mourning in Mémoires d’immigrés: l’héritage maghrébin: Yamina Benguigui as ‘Memory Entrepreneuse’

Redrawing French Empire in Comics

“…Nonetheless, several of these artists have created some of the most compelling, critical and nuanced accounts of colonial history and its aftermath. These cartoonists may act as "entrepreneurs de mémoire" [memory entrepreneurs], much as Sylvie Durmelat (2000) finds film director Yamina Benguigui doing in and around Mémoires d'immigrés: L'héritage maghrébin [Memories of Immigrants: The Maghrebi Heritage] (1998). By reconstructing aspects of French colonial history, they help to create a collective, cultural memory for immigrant ethnic minorities, but also for the French in general, who share that past in important ways (cf.…”

Claiming integration, performing exclusion: Yamina Benguigui’s documentaries

“…Benguigui’s well-documented technique in Mémoires d’immigrés of first presenting her interviewees with a long or medium shot, then a close-up, and extreme close-ups during emotional moments, before ending with a long shot, is also extensively used in her subsequent documentaries. As Sylvie Durmelat points out, ‘this play on distance cues the emotion and support of the audience’, whereas government officials are kept at a distance (Durmelat, 2000: 180). Benguigui’s choice favours ‘emotional identification with her characters’ over explicit indictment ‘all the while retaining the legitimizing seal of objectivity’ (2000: 180).…”

“…As Sylvie Durmelat points out, ‘this play on distance cues the emotion and support of the audience’, whereas government officials are kept at a distance (Durmelat, 2000: 180). Benguigui’s choice favours ‘emotional identification with her characters’ over explicit indictment ‘all the while retaining the legitimizing seal of objectivity’ (2000: 180). The casual and detached accounts from former government officials contrast with the immigrants’ recollections of the consequences of policies that have not been well thought out, where a mixture of sadness and bitterness surfaces.…”

“…Benguigui has explained her choice of editing out her presence: ‘Je crois qu’ainsi, la personne est avec vous: il n’y a pas quelqu’un [sic] au milieu, pas d’intermédiaire!’ (Barlet, 1997: 38). As Durmelat notes, ‘the witnesses on the screen seem to address the audience directly, a method of presentation which allows the parents to be constructed as historical agents rather than victims’ (2000: 180). This erasure of the interviewer’s presence, despite some awkwardness, serves to simulate a dialogue that connects the viewer with the minorities featured on the screen in order to elicit sympathy: the first step for the country to face the past and embrace its diversity.…”