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Original Image by Sembene/Janus Films
A ship arrives to dock at Antibes in France on a misty morning. Diounna steps off with her suitcase to be met by a man who helps her onto his car and they take off. Diounna has relocated from Senegal, coming to start an exciting new life for herself at the behest of her employers, a couple with three children that she is to take care of. Her job is as a nanny, she arrives in France thinking this would still be her sole responsibility.
As
she settles in her employer's small apartment, the small children that she took care of in Dakar are nowhere to be seen. Her job now has changed to that of a maid. Her new or rather altered responsibilities are to clean the house and on one occasion, make a traditional meal for her employers' guests. She grows deeply unhappy, feeling trapped and unable to explore her new world outside, this is most certainly not what she signed up for.
As
she reminiscences about the life she left behind, we are brought into her former world. Diounna is shown with her plaited natural hair and traditional dress, embedded in family life with her mother in the vibrant townships of Dakar.
Seeking
employment, Diounna heads to a local spot in Dakar where the African women sit and wait to be chosen by the white employers who visit that area when looking for domestic help. After several trips to this spot, she is finally seen by a woman who takes her into her employ, this, the same family that we see with her in France.
Back
home, work life seems pleasant enough with her looking after the kids. She even gives her employers a gift of an African mask that she took from a young boy back home, a sign of her gratitude. As the prospect of moving to Europe to join her employers arrives, she imagines a new life for herself, one filled with adventure and glamour.
Her
lover from Dakar is deeply dissapointed by her disregard of their relationship, but has no choice either than letting Diounna take off to follow her new path. As she remembers all this that she left behind, her growing frustration at her dull and sombre existence leads her to act out, even taking back the mask that she gifted her employers.
The
couple doesn't know how to placate her, the white lady becomes continually angry and, through Diounna's perspective, demanding as well. While the husband tries to appease her with money and an offer to write to her family on her behalf to let them know how happy she is. But she isn't happy, and ultimately decides to commit suicide after packing her bags and placing the mask on top, as if returning home.
As
the husband returns to Dakar to give back Diounaa's belongings, Diounna's mother refuses to welcome him or take his money. The unfortunate event is presented as one that would haunt both this man and the family that Diounna left back home. This film, an expression of the unaddressed consequences of colonialism, and the distortions and fetishes it created in both African and European minds.
Film stills courtesy
Sembene,
O dir 1966. Black Girl. Senegal & France
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