Islamist
apologists always assure us that Muslim women feel more comfortable and empowered
in restrictive clothes. Here’s their chance to try the burqa on for size. It
the backward fictional nation of Bubunne, women have all legal authority and
subjugate their uneducated men like chattel. One sad sack man-victim harbors a
deep crush on the supreme leader’s heir apparent-daughter, but he has lost his
ticket to the grand ball in Riad Sattouf’s satirical Cinderella-riff, Jacky in the Kingdom of Women (trailer here), which screens
during the 2014 Fantastic Fest.
As
a male “pleb,” Jacky is about as low as it gets in Bubunne, but women find him
attractive (there’s no accounting for taste in this militarist theocracy), so
he has always hoped General Bubunne XVI’s daughter, logically known as The
Colonel, would choose him to be her “Big Dummy.” Unfortunately, when Jacky’s
mother dies, his mean aunt and uncle give his ticket to the cattle-call ball to
his ugly cousin. Yet, through a series of misadventures, Jacky will somehow
gatecrash the soiree, disguised as a woman, Twelfth
Night style.
Although
the official religion of Bubunne venerates horses instead of a prophet, it is
not hard to see what it is based on. Given the chadors worn by men, the
frequent denunciations of blasphemy, public executions, and rampant sexism and
homophobia, if you cannot recognize Bubunne as an analog for the Islamist
regimes, you are willfully blind enough to work children’s protective services
in Rotherham.
It
is therefore little exaggeration to describe Sattouf’s screenplay as
extraordinarily bold, but Twenty-First Century viewers might wish his satire
came with more jokes. However, the audience that could probably stand to gain
the most from seeing the gender tables turned is not exactly known for its
collective funny bone. Subtlety can also be an iffy proposition, but Kingdom’s depiction of religiously
justified oppression should be in-your-face enough to register some kind of
response (like a fatwa).
Charlotte
Gainsbourg’s performance as the Colonel is also rather brave, for a host of
reasons that would be spoilery to explain. It is safe to say she is a good
sport, whose mysterious screen presence perfectly suits the film. However,
Vincent Lacoste’s Jacky is so passive and pathetic, viewers will want to bully
him along with the rest of the film’s villains. At least Michel Hazanavicius
brings some redemptive verve as Julin, an underground propagandist who was
close friends with Jacky’s late father. Anémone (co-star of the beloved holiday
classic, Santa Stinks) also shows a
flair for physical humor as the miserable old General.
