What to expect
Ousmane Sembène’s first feature gives colonial power a domestic scale through voice-over, objects, rooms, and withheld mobility. Its concise form makes Diouana’s interior life confront the employers who prefer to treat her as a function.
How to ease in
Listen to the difference between Diouana’s inner voice and the limited speech permitted inside the apartment. The mask is not decoration; follow who gives it, owns it, displays it, and takes it back.
Heads-up
A young Senegalese woman travels to France for domestic work and discovers that the promised new life confines her to an apartment and a role imposed by others.
I feel the apartment grow smaller each time Diouana’s employers speak for her. Her inner voice preserves a world they refuse to see, while the mask quietly records every change in ownership.
Open the note ↓
I feel the apartment grow smaller each time Diouana’s employers speak for her. Her inner voice preserves a world they refuse to see, while the mask quietly records every change in ownership.
— Momo
Credits & versions
- Cast
- Mbissine Thérèse Diop — Diouana · Anne-Marie Jelinek · Robert Fontaine
Version map
Where to go next
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