SATIN ROUGE (2002, Tunisia, 91 min.), directed by Raja Amari; screenplay by Raja Amari; cinematography by Diane Baratier; edited by Pauline Dairou; music by Nawfel El Manaa; with Hiam Abbass (Lillia), Hend El Fahem (Salma, her daughter), Maher Kamoun (Chakri, the drummer), Monia Hichri (Folla, the dancer friend), Faouzia Badr (The Neighbor), Nadra Lamloum (Hela, Salma's friend), Abou Moez El Fazaa (The Boss). In Arabic with English subtitles.
Please jot down short answers to all the following, and answer three at length on separate paper.
1. Where does the title of the film come from? What does “red satin” signify for Lillia, our protagonist?
2. Discuss the opening scene of the film—Lillia dusting her apartment. What is established in this scene?
3. Discuss the setting of the film,
4. Discuss Lillia. What are the various impulses that motivate her? Trace her development over the course of the film through the choices that she makes.
5. Discuss Lillia’s relationship with Salma, her daughter.
6. Now discuss her relationship with Folla and the other women at the cabaret. How do you react to the milieu of the cabaret and the lives of the dancers?
7. Discuss the scenes in which Lillia dances at the cabaret. What is it like for her? What do you notice about the way that the scenes are filmed?
8. Discuss the men at the cabaret. How do you think the filmmaker wants us to react to them?
9. Discuss the lovemaking scene.
10. The film ends in (yet another) wedding. What do you notice about this scene? How does Lillia come across in the end?
11. How does the film create suspense?
12. Some of the themes touched on in the film are guilt, transgression, and women’s empowerment. Discuss them.
13. You’ll notice that the film uses fade-outs
and fade-ins between scenes. What is the
effect of this kind of transition on the film?
How does it affect the film’s pace and mood?
14. React to the following quote by the director: We are bombarded by the media, and they show a certain image of the Arab world. What I want to do is bring a more subtle, more nuanced, vision of the world.
15. And to this one: If Lilia loses herself, it is because she no longer wants
to fight her desires, and that she indulges in her needs. She follows her
dream, without rebellion, and her experience at the night-club will enable her
to leave her position as a "mother" and become a woman who is looked
at and desired. In her journey, she discovers that she has conflicting feelings
of desire, love, humiliation and jealousy. . . . Lilia hovers from one world to
the other and finally loses touch.