In cinemas this week, “HLM Pussy” is the first feature film by young filmmaker Nora El Hourch. Meet this director who tells us about this powerful film denouncing sexual assault.
In theaters on March 6, HLM Pussy presents Amina, Djeneba and Zineb, three inseparable teenagers. They post a video on social networks implicating the attacker of one of them. They will have to choose between saving their friendship or giving in to pressure. On the occasion of the release of the feature film, AlloCiné met its director, Nora El Hourch, for whom this is her first film on the big screen.
AlloCiné: HLM Pussy is your first feature film, can you tell us about the journey that led you to the making of this first film? I have always written.
Nora El Hourch: Since I was 6 years old, I have had a visceral and inexplicable need to write stories. And then one day, I am 20 years old, and I fly to the United States. A need for freedom and independence. A year later, I returned to France devastated. I am no longer the same. I was sexually assaulted.
Little by little, I resume the writing I put aside then and I write about this drama. I not only want to tell my story but the desire to reach and address “other me” all over the world. I want to help with art. My art. An art that I literally learned by doing. To reach as many people as possible, I quickly started writing to which I wanted to add the power of images.
What came out was Few Seconds, my short film. The film had an incredible journey and reached those I wanted to meet. I got a lot of “thanks”. And that’s how I decided to continue making films.
In short, I am a woman to whom a tragedy happened, and who one day wanted to talk about it. I never wanted to be a director. But my message is so strong that it took over. So I learned how to make films and write screenplays. This is how I got there. And I hope to stay there as long as I have things to say.
The film notably evokes the taboo of sexual assault in cities like the one described in the story; In your opinion, why have women from these backgrounds not really been swept away by the metoo movement? Is there a sort of omerta in the face of the death threats that can result from these denunciations?
I don’t have the feeling of having written a film which denounces the actions of this or that community. Zineb on one side, Anne on the other, both of the same age, 15, and yet both already victims of sexual assault. Omerta is everywhere, whatever the social environment.
Omerta is everywhere, whatever the social environment.
What I wanted to show is rather that we cannot ask all women to fight with the same weapons, the same intensity and the same priority in the face of the debate around MeToo. Generally speaking, no two people can fight the same fight in the same way. It necessarily depends on where we come from, our traumas, our wounds, our social and financial insecurities.
That’s what the film is about. For all victims, being able to raise your voice to denounce these failings is something very courageous which is never without risk. Risk of losing your job, of alienating people, of disappointing, of threats… a risk present even in our environment (that of cinema).
Paname Distribution
In the press kit for the film, you talk about your dual culture and the fact that it is a source of discomfort; can you explain to us why you feel this way?
I have always heard people tell me how rich it is to have another nationality and origin. But in what way? In a world where we are always asked, consciously or not, to choose a side. Depending on the events, our interlocutor, the politics of the moment… we are forced to choose or take sides.
How can we build ourselves and know who we are or who we have the right to be, when we are not white enough, or not North African enough? We only ever have one identity! We are the fruit of several influences and identities whatever our background. My quest for identity is and will always be part of me.
And since I made this film even more so, because I have never felt so French while I have never been so subject to racist insults and racial hatred at the height of “dirty bugnoule go home! “…simply because I am a woman of Moroccan origin who makes films.
You also talk about your short film, A Few Seconds, and the rape you suffered at the age of 20; to what extent do you think that cinema has the power to change things, firstly for yourself, but also to help free the voice of other women victims of sexual assault?
I think art can help. I sincerely mean it. At the end of each screening, I receive private messages, or people take me aside to tell me that they were victims and that this film does them good. Others regret not having seen the film before the tragedy.
I even had young men tell me that they would have liked to see the film when they were 14-15 years old. Following these testimonies that I had already received after my short film 10 years ago, I think that art and more particularly films can change, shake up, awaken and help.
Art and more particularly films can change, shake up, awaken and help.
The three young actresses are astonishingly authentic, how do we obtain such performances on set with such young actresses?
Thanks for them. I think kindness has a lot to do with it. I had established a climate of trust between them and me. And there was no way they were going to shoot something that they might later regret or not be comfortable with doing certain scenes. Of course there are issues when making a film!
But it’s “just” a movie. And there was no way I was going to denounce something that was happening behind the scenes. So I spent a lot of time with each of them to get to know them as much as possible to bring out the emotions I needed during filming. And we also rehearsed quite a bit beforehand! It helped.
Paname Distribution
You show the unhealthy influence of social networks with the omnipresence of telephones in particular; what is your personal relationship with social networks?
I’ve had Instagram since this summer, almost forced and forced by my friends (laughs). And I don’t regret it because it allows me to be in contact with people who saw the film and who needed to talk afterwards. But if I waited so long and I don’t have any other network, it’s because I already spend too many hours behind my computer screen for my liking!
And also because I find that excesses can be unhealthy and can affect me personally. I don’t want to read the hate or see the atrocities that can be relayed so I prefer to stay away from it.
The style of your staging and your very realistic approach echo Between the walls by Laurent Cantet or gang of girls by Céline Sciamma; did you have these references in mind for HLM Pussy?
I love all these filmmakers and these films who film the real thing! So yes, these two great artists are references. Just like Ken Loach. I call them true geniuses!
And I would very much like my films to have the intensity of their authenticity. I think this is how we can (on our scale) change things.
How did you work on the delicate scenes, such as Zak’s attacks on Zineb?
I filmed second after second what they were able to give me, and this, with a small team. It was more complicated for Salma Takaline to shoot certain scenes. And the three of us got together to find out what could be done.
Like sewing, thread after thread, I filmed with my cinematographer Maxence Lemonnier. I showed one gesture, one after the other, to Salma. If she said ok to do it again, we would film. Then we cut, and I started again.
Not everything could be filmed. So, editing turned out to be a real challenge to feel what I didn’t have in rushes. But it allowed me to surpass myself and I prefer the scenes like this, than if everything had been filmed in a formal manner.
Around the drama of the aggression and the violent atmosphere in which these young girls are immersed, you have injected comic relief; why do you think it’s important to include light moments amidst the drama?
I wanted moments of lightness to breathe between difficult times. And then this is also part of their carelessness.
More generally, what movie buff are you? What are your tastes in cinema and TV series?
I like films and series with a message. I rarely watch films/series for simple entertainment. I like when there is a moral or it makes you think.
I love twists in scenarios and screaming “but nooooo!” aloud ! But clearly I can go from a love story to a horror film! I would also like to write a film in each genre.
Do you have a new project in mind after HLM Pussy?
Yes, a horror film! I love it and I would like to lend myself to the genre even if it is far from the world of HLM Pussy. But of course with a moral or a message in the subtext!