Unveiling 21st century representations of Muslim women in French cinema

This thesis examines how recent French films (2015-2017) represent veiled female characters. The three films of this corpus (Fatima, Faucon 2015; Le Ciel Attendra, Mention-Schaar 2016; Cherchez la Femme, Abadi 2017) are selected for they not only highlight the limited representations that conform to the dominant views of the Muslim female 'other' in contemporary French society, but they also present the three archetypes common to representations of veiled characters: the submissive Maghrebi mother; the veiled woman as a subaltern; the radicalised Muslim girl. Since the early 2000s (Tarr, 2015), Maghrebi-French actresses are increasingly present in film, marking a growing visibility of 2nd-generation Maghrebi-French in contemporary France. Cinema is particularly powerful in its capacity to challenge or perpetuate the prejudices that contribute to societal discrimination toward minority groups. Despite their aim at challenging stereotypical views of veiled Muslim characters, these films also reinforce hegemonic views and social prejudices.