Tracing Sexual Citizenship and Queerness in Drôle de Félix (2000) and Tarik el hob (2001)

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Notes 1 I would like to thank Christine Mallinson for her helpful comments on an earlier version of this essay. 2 For the purposes of this essay, I will use the terms “gay Maghrebi-French citizens” and “Maghrebi-French sexual citizens” synonymously because in most cases the phenomena to which I am referring have been documented primarily for gay male Maghrebi-French citizens. Moreover, the two films examined in this essay deal with gay-male characters of Maghrebi origin. 3 It is for this reason, in part, that some gay Maghrebi-French citizens avoid these spaces and instead prefer to attend events like the “Black, Blanc, Beur” “ethnic” gay tea dance on Sunday evenings at Folies Pigalle in the 9th district organized by Kelma (“Le Site ethnik & gay”). For more on this event, see <http://www.kelma.org//PAGES/B.B.B/soiree_gay_bbb.php>. 4 For a survey of recent French films that deal with gay male Maghrebi-French sexuality, see my “Maghrebi-French Sexual Citizens Hanging In and Out of France.” 5 To date Ducastel and Martineau have also co-written and co-directed three other feature-length films: Jeanne et le garçon formidable (1998), Ma vraie vie à Rouen (2003), and Crustacés et coquillages (2005). For more on Ducastel and Martineau, see Tarr, Grandena, and Swamy. Drôle de Félix was released commercially in French theaters in April 2000 and ticket sales reached 82,632 (Tarr 217); it has been released subsequently on DVD in France and in international markets where it has gained a sustained audience among both academics and gay-oriented film aficionados. 6 For more on good sexual citizenship, see Bell and Binnie, McCaffrey, and Provencher, “Maghrebi-French Sexual Citizens.” 7 For more on this kind of identification, see Grandena's discussion, inspired by the work of Frédéric Martel, about a “communauté de destin” (65). 8 For more on the bad sexual citizen, see Bersani and Provencher, Queer French. 9 Tarr refers to this as a “délit du faciès” or “the crime of looking different, which makes [beurs] vulnerable to police harassment” (7). 10 According to Lange's website, he has co-written many short and feature-length films with Antoine Parlebas. These include Omelette (1993; remake in 1997), Les Anges dans nos campagnes (1994), Le Super-8 n’est pas mort, il bande encore (1996), Les Yeux Brouillés (2000), Comment faire un enfant à Lio (2002), L’Invasion des pholades géantes (2002), Mes parents (2004), The Sex of Madame H (2005), Cake au sirop de cordom (2005), Statross le magnifique (2006), and Thyroid (2007). For more on Lange's films, see <http://membres.lycos.fr/omeletteaubeurre/ and <http://www.myspace.com/remilange>. 11 This low-budget film was produced with digital Beta technology that offers a documentary effect that stands in contrast to the Technicolor shots of a dramatic, feature-length, commercial film like Drôle de Félix. While Tarik el hob was not screened in commercial theaters in France, it appeared at several gay and lesbian film festivals worldwide where it gained visibility and recognition (Lange 2007 Lange, Rémi. 2007. Email to author. 29 July 2007 [Google Scholar]). For example, it won the Outfest “Freedom Award” in Los Angeles in 2003, and the NewFest “Honorable Mention” award in New York in 2003. According to Lange's website, the film has been released on DVD three separate times—in France (2003), Germany (2004), and the United States (2004)—and it is largely through this medium that the film has gained increased visibility. 12 See Tarr who argues that his adventures do not present him the opportunity to meet “Mon enfant” (150) 13 This is not unlike Etienne's sexual discovery in Ducastel and Martineau's Ma vraie vie à Rouen (2003). For more on this topic, see Grandena (70–75). 14 Indeed, this image works in contrast to the images of “phallic masculinity” that emerge in many “beur” and “banlieue” films (Tarr 103).