The Silences of the Palace (1994)
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The Silences of the Palace Movie Review
The Silences of the Palace is a 1994 Tunisian drama film directed by Moufida Tlatli and starring Hend Sabri. It is a slow, but emotional and very poetic movie.
As she grows up, Alia, the daughter of housemaid Khedija, learns the secrets of the peaceful palace where she and her mother live. The film is actually set in the fifties when Alia returns to this palace after one of the princes has just died there, but the movie is told mostly through flashbacks as she reminisces and contextualizes everything that has happened to her all those years ago in this palace.
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Tunisia was under the French rule for decades all the way until the fifties. This knowledge is important for this story that is all about the many hardships that these women who were basically slaves endured as they were imprisoned in these grandiose palaces. The movie is admirably feminist in its execution, but without ever being over-the-top in that regard. The tone is just right.
What impressed me the most here is the film’s highly unique atmosphere. Yes, it’s a drama about class and gender differences in the country, but it’s also very much framed like a fairy tale, but a sad instead of happy one. The poetic, almost dreamlike atmosphere to the movie was beautiful to witness and this made the movie authentic and very memorable.
My problem here lies in the movie’s immensely slow pace that robbed the story of major momentum. The slice-of-life moments were sweet, but way too often the film would resort to these overlong exercises in showing the women’s way of life and activities in this palace that became overbearing. They slowed the story down significantly, especially the overextended music scenes.
Still, The Silences of the Palaces remains an emotionally resonant tale that depicts just how disorienting must be living a life that you never really think about what it truly means. This life that Alia lived was enclosed and imprisoned, but only in the adult life is she able to fully realize that. This was very realistic as this is how trauma works and this led to that incredible finale that is very moving and powerfully acted by Hend Sabri.
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Her performance is excellent and her character in both the flashbacks and the present is the heart of the movie that doesn’t otherwise feature that many memorable or well-defined personalities. The technical aspects are outstanding. I wished for better pacing and more of those emotional and sophisticated moments, but what we got was still great. The overall production design, costumes, directing and cinematography are uniformly terrific while the movie’s atmosphere remains its highlight.
The Silences of the Palace is an emotionally powerful, sophisticated drama about gender and class differences in mid-20th century Tunisia that is wonderfully acted and directed. Its slice-of-life approach did lead to an overly slow pace that often robbed the movie of its momentum, but a moving ending and a uniquely poetic, almost dreamlike atmosphere elevated the material at hand significantly.
My Rating – 4
