Subverting the “banlieue girl identity” through gender performance in Céline Sciamma’s Bandes de Filles

Abstract

Bande de Filles – Girlhood, is the story of Marieme, a young black woman living in the banlieue, who meets Lady, Adiatou and Fily, and becomes a member of their girl gang – the direct translation of the French title. At home, Marieme lives with an absent mother, and two young sisters she feels obligated to protect from their violent older brother. At school, Marieme wants to continue on to high school, but the guidance counselor wants to direct her toward a vocational school. Marieme is 16 years old and this is her story: she is a stereotypical figure of the young banlieue girl, living in a challenging social environment dominated by a masculine figure, expected to take over parental responsibility, failing academically and marginalized by the academic institution. This is the identity that is prescribed to young banlieue women, constructed on social stigmas, thus establishing the banlieue girl as a social category. In Bande de Filles, French director Céline Sciamma portrays Marieme as the speaker of these young girls who are trying to subvert and emancipate themselves from these preexisting norms of femininity tied into their identity.