The Silences of the Palace (1994) - Moufida Tlatli

​Property and Possession - The Silences of the Palace is a rich, textual examination of suppression and coercion that beautifully interweaves the political struggles of colonialism with the social struggles of femininity to deliver an emotionally piercing study of the ultimate struggle for freedom detangled from authoritative or hierarchal impulses towards control or ownership. Quietly devastating, the languid pacing provides ample opportunities for a multi-layered approach that never devalues the film's personal, intimate story while also beautifully expressing the universality of such a struggle. There is a sense of danger that enshrouds this film, one that isn't often expressed in plain sight but how the feminine body and the male gaze are expressed through this quiet sense of menace is so acute and deeply penetrating. The Silences of the Palace recognizes the true horror of such strict patriarchal ideas is how they become merely commonplace, even accepted without resistance in order to survive. Much like the act of creating such a film in the first place, The Silences of the Palace ultimately expresses the necessity for resistance and rebellion, yet in its final frames it fully recognizes the embedded and ubiquitous nature of masculine toxicity in which our main protagonist, now fully grown, still has little power over her own decisions as it pertains to her body. For my money, one of the great feminist texts.