Girl Before a Mirror
Girl Before a Mirror is a short experimental film by Pablo Saura and Wajod Alkhamis that explores the taboo of the hijab or headscarf in the western world, from a female point of view and in a context of repression and misogyny.
Reminiscent of Chantal Akerman and relying in a DIY approach, the film follows Maimuna in a candid single take. As part of her morning routine, Maimuna puts on some lipstick, and then a headscarf, thus somehow implying a contradiction between modesty (the headscarf or hijab is considered as a sign of modesty according to the texts of fiqh and hadith) and vanity (make-up is widely considered as a tool to enhance appearance and appeal).
In taking us into what in cinematic terms is a very private space, Maimuna unveils a slice of her life and embodies a clash between eastern and western cultures, proving that opposing elements don’t need to be mutually exclusive. The actual taboo relies, not on seeing the bare head of a hijabi girl, but on the implicit complementary nature of these two elements. In words of the filmmaker "what is harder for westerners to understand is that if Middle Eastern women are prohibited from showing their beauty, Western women are demanded to cultivate and display theirs at all times, in a similarly repressive fashion".
The film develops in a way that the audience is not aware of the multicultural background of the subject until halfway through the film, when she puts her headscarf on. The audio track is kept silent, in an attempt to focus the attention on the image, avoid distractions, and anticipate events. The film was shot on super8 film at the subject's house and none of the events were staged, enriching the intimate atmosphere of the film, as if a secret was being unveiled to us, a modern day taboo.
Reminiscent of Chantal Akerman and relying in a DIY approach, the film follows Maimuna in a candid single take. As part of her morning routine, Maimuna puts on some lipstick, and then a headscarf, thus somehow implying a contradiction between modesty (the headscarf or hijab is considered as a sign of modesty according to the texts of fiqh and hadith) and vanity (make-up is widely considered as a tool to enhance appearance and appeal).
In taking us into what in cinematic terms is a very private space, Maimuna unveils a slice of her life and embodies a clash between eastern and western cultures, proving that opposing elements don’t need to be mutually exclusive. The actual taboo relies, not on seeing the bare head of a hijabi girl, but on the implicit complementary nature of these two elements. In words of the filmmaker "what is harder for westerners to understand is that if Middle Eastern women are prohibited from showing their beauty, Western women are demanded to cultivate and display theirs at all times, in a similarly repressive fashion".
The film develops in a way that the audience is not aware of the multicultural background of the subject until halfway through the film, when she puts her headscarf on. The audio track is kept silent, in an attempt to focus the attention on the image, avoid distractions, and anticipate events. The film was shot on super8 film at the subject's house and none of the events were staged, enriching the intimate atmosphere of the film, as if a secret was being unveiled to us, a modern day taboo.
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