Black Girl (1966) is a visually graphic film about race, poverty, deception, human trafficking, and loss. A young Senegalese girl named Diouana is hired by a wealthy French woman to move to France and become a nanny to her children. Once in France, Diouana finds that her job is more than just as au pair. The Madame, whose name we never learn, demands that Diouana cook and clean as well as care for the two children.
Summary of Black Girl
The beginning of Black Girl (La Noire de...) shows the lovely Diouana, the titular black girl, as the maid in the white, French home. She dresses in a lovely dress, earring, and high-heeled shoes just to clean, and she wonders about how she ended up as a virtual slave in a foreign country far from home and family.
Then the film takes us back in time to see how Diouana ends up in her current conundrum. In Senegal, we see a third-world country in Africa where most people are illiterate and have to hire a literate person to write letters for them. Diouana’s people live in huts in cramped villages and eke out a living doing whatever they can.
Diouana needs a job and goes door to door in a wealthy high-rise apartment building to no avail. Then, Diouana waits on a street corner with other women for days until a wealthy French woman comes and chooses her to act as nanny for her children. For awhile the arrangement in Senegal seems to work well, then the Madame and her family go back to France and convince Diouana to leave Africa and go with them. The Madame tells Diouana of the lovely shops in France and gives the girl her cast off clothing and shoes.
Symbolism in Black Girl
Follow the Senegalese monkey mask in Black Girl. It is an important player with a non-speaking role in this intriguing film. The monkey is also symbolic of chaos and mischief. The music in this film is used effectively as a symbol as well. In Senegal we hear the wonderful sounds of traditional Senegalese music played on stringed instruments with unusual syncopations. The scenes of the film in France include some horrible French music that may have been contemporary back in 1966.
Issues and Questions in the Film
This movies leaves many unanswered questions. Why does Diouana not talk to her employer and attempt to negotiate a better deal? She almost seems to pretend as if she cannot speak French though she seems to quite fluent. Why does Diouana not want to answer the letter from her mother? Why does the Monsieur go back to Senegal at the end of the film? This film is as current and fresh today as it was back in 1966. Black Girl raises issues of hiring illegal aliens, colonialism, taking advantage of the under-privileged, as well as the issue of slavery and human trafficking.
Mbissine Therese Diop is visually stunning to watch as she dresses, undresses, and does her hair. Shot in black and white, Diouana is even more beautiful in the stark contrast.
- 65 minutes
- Thought to be the first feature length movie created by a black African in sub-Saharan Africa.
- French with English sub-titles
- Directed and written by Ousamane Sembene
- Also starring Anne-Marie Jelinek, Robert Fontaine, Momar Nar Sene, and Ibrahima Boy
- Produced by Andre Zwoboda
- Cinematography by Christian Lacoste
- Film editing by Andre Gaudier
Mary Rayme - Mary Rayme is a graphic designer and arts educator with a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.
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