Civilisées (''A Civilized People'' or ''Al Mutahaddirat'') is a 1999 Lebanese

dark comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film written and directed by filmmaker Randa Chahal Sabag. The film premiered at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

on September 4, 1999 and later screened at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

. The film was also screened at the Arab Film Festival in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Premise

During the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

(1975-1990), many well-off Lebanese families fled the country to look for their personal interests internationally, leaving their residences under the care of maids and laborers from

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. The film draws a portrait of a war-tormented

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

neighborhood, and the love between a Muslim militia fighter and a Christian maid.

Cast

Jalila Baccar Jalila Baccar (; born 1952) is a Tunisian playwright and actor. Early life and education Baccar was born in Tunis on 23 November 1952. She became interested in drama while at school. Career When she graduated from school she joined a region ...

as Viviane * Tamim Chahal as Samir * Myrna Maakaron as Souad * Carmen Lebbos as Najat * Sotigui Kouyaté as Ousmane * Renée Deek as Thérèse * Bruno Todeschini as Antoine

Release

Due to the controversial topic of the film and its critique of the Lebanese elite, it had only one screening in Lebanon at the Beirut International Film Festival, and was also later banned by the Lebanese Film Commission. However, it received positive responses from international audiences, including at film festivals in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Accolades

In 2000, the film won the Nestor Almendros Award at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. At the 1999 Venice Film Festival, the film won the UNESCO Award (tied with ''Zion, Auto-Emancipatio''n) and was nominated for the Cinema of the Present - Lion of the Year Award.

References

External links

* * 1999 black comedy films 1999 comedy-drama films 1999 films 1999 multilingual films 1990s French-language films 1990s Arabic-language films Lebanese Civil War films Lebanese comedy-drama films Films directed by Randa Chahal Sabag Interfaith romance films Lebanese multilingual films {{1990s-comedy-drama-film-stub