In Huria, By Mounia Meddour, the actress nails the dance. Ode to freedom and solidarity.
Three years after his Caesar for a female revelation grandpa the actress finds director Mounya Medduri Huria, a new portrait of a resilient young Algerian woman who finds her salvation in art. Lina Khoudri, body and soul invested in the project, plays this dancer, who loses her use of speech as a result of the attack and struggles to regain her legs. The support of his mother (the late Rachida Brackney), caregivers and women who are also victims of post-traumatic shock will lead him on the road to recovery and recovery. A meeting with a challenging actress, again in an amazing score, where the body conveys everything that words can no longer say.
Madame Figaro .- What place does Mounia Meddour have in your career?
Lina Khoudri: Central. grandpa changed my life and Munia and I have been great friends ever since. He made me read the script Huria while we were on vacation together. There was a real challenge with this character who communicates through the body by dancing or signing. I spent six months learning sign language the way you learn an accent, and I took ballet and modern dance lessons. I used to do modern jazz when I was younger, but it’s been ten years since I did it. Having rhythm was an advantage, but at my age playing pointe is a priori impossible. I worked really hard to get there. The dancer doubles me on some shots, like the splits, but I made Munya promise to shoot me on pointe. It was excluded that I did all this in vain.
Did you meet PTSD victims to prepare for the role?
Yes, because I followed Munia throughout the preparation. I also met people who suffered from Broca’s aphasia, doctors, psychologists, speech therapists, deaf-mutes… During the work, we discovered that a person can lose speech due to shock, trauma. Before being attacked by a former Islamist terrorist, Houria hears the last sentence: “You talk too much, women.” His silence is the result of these last words addressed to him.
It is in solidarity that we find hope and energy as we thrive in a society that hinders us
Lina Khoudri
What exactly is his silence a metaphor for?
Detention of women deprived of their voice in public space. The dance tells us how they can recover it by going through other paths. There are other means of release than words, but in a society where the female body is taboo, the choice of dance is not insignificant. The film tells us that a woman will still take her place no matter what, and often through the power of the collective. It is in solidarity that we find hope and energy as we thrive in a society that hinders us.
What place does sorority play in your life?
A place as important as brotherhood. Sisterhood is a tough word that is sometimes used as an “against”. I am in favor of sharing without distinction. I can spend whole evenings only with guys and create a WhatsApp group called “Les Reines” to chat with actresses I like.
“Sometimes the most beautiful things come out of chaos”
Telling about Algeria in your films is a way to connect with your roots.
Also: I enjoy speaking Algerian and immersing myself in this culture which is mine and which I sometimes leave as a Parisian. I left the country very young, but I love it, I was born there, my father still lives there and I go there often. But what is also expressed in making a film about Algeria is my desire to support and participate in a flourishing Algerian cinema that remains fragile. There is such fertile ground for stories there. The Algerian scripts that I have read, especially those written by friends, are some of the best that have passed through my hands. Sometimes the most beautiful things are born out of chaos.
Do you also want to write?
Yes, I have a thousand ideas a day, but it’s still very vague. I need to build this up a bit.
grandpa And Huria to tell about emancipation through art. Is it also through him that you found yourself?
Completely. My first encounter with this word, art, was at the foundation. It was in high school, pursuing an art history option. It was my favorite subject, the one I got the best grades in undergrad. I also wanted to do the Louvre School before going into cultural mediation… I quickly felt that the creatives were going to be my family. Today, cinema has taken over, but discovering the history of our societies through architecture and all the arts has changed my vision of the world. I was fortunate to have incredible teachers who broadened our horizons. Before them, I was walking down the street, not trying to understand what was around me. They opened my eyes and mind.
You just played in Paris lose your bag One scene written by Pascal Rambert. New dates soon?
Nothing planned, but hopefully. It was a big challenge as opposed to a silent Huria challenge because it’s a 40-minute monologue. I fell in love with Pascal Rambert’s work while reading love fence and it was impossible for me to reject this text that he offered me, which is deeply rooted in our times and its problems. The apprenticeship was very difficult, but Pascal is an angel from heaven, a model of listening and charity. I doubted a lot, I was afraid a lot, and without him I might not have made it to the end of this experience, which in the end I was able to fully enjoy. But it was a boxing ring. every night i fought words and myself.
“Horia” with Munia Meddur, Lina Khudri, Rachida Brackney…
Source: Le Figaro
