« Make us more films that talk about us! » This is the strongly voiced desire of spectators viewing Ridha Behi’s mémoires. The Tunisian filmmaker would appear to have his work cut out for him. A European television company commissioned Ridha Behi to make a film on the relationship children have with film. This naturally provided him with an opportunity for introspection. Here flashbacks to memorable moments from his childhood mingle with the study of a decaying relationship with his partner because of his devotion to his career.
Behi concurs with the spectator’s desire that he talk to them about themselves through the prism that is film, and by using every trick in the book. Scenes portraying childhood memories are particularly successful. They narrate milestones such as circumcision, holidays, first love and newfound sexuality with humour and detachment. He has the child sing well-known love songs, for example. The dialogues ring true and his relationship with Uncle Mansour, who operates a travelling cinema and introduces Raouf to the secret world of adults and the forbidden world of cinema, is particularly convincing.
The film makes reference to other films, such as a sound track from a Fellini film and the set of the The Thief of Baghdad, thus appropriating its mythical power. A gentle nostalgia emanates from the series of childhood disappointments, which resonate like a progressive journey into religion the belief in the cinema, which replaces the child’s innocence, without totally losing it.
On the other hand, scenes about his relationship with Lou – the French woman suffering from the emptiness that works its way between them and into her life – do not have the same intensity, going so far as to melt into an operatic air. This is a real pity because they destabilise the film just when we had bought into his entirely cinematographic programme, accepting the child’s proposal to make us cross the sea despite the fact that we cannot swim.
