A feminist masterpiece about transgenderism, Joyland is the best film to see this week

In 2022, we will have to wait the last second to find out one of the (if not the) Best film(s) of the year. Like what, with cinema, you should never lose hope.

Released in theaters December 28th, joyland has already marked the history of the 7th art because, in addition to its exceptional qualities, it is the very first Pakistani film selected in the Official Selection at Cannes. It’s great, even if, personally, I still don’t understand because it didn’t win the Camera d’Or… But I console myself by remembering that he still won the Un Certain Regard Award as well as Queer Palmvery well deserved.

Masterpiece of writing, marvel of staging, ultra-powerful political fresco and heartbreaking drama that will make you cry, joyland is the movie to see this week.

Joyland, what is it about?

In the Pakistani city of Lahore, Haider and his wife live together with his brother’s entire family. In this house where everyone lives under the gaze of the othersHaider is summoned by his father find a job and become a father.

The day he gets a job like cabaret dancerfalls under the spell of Biba, sublime dancer with an exciting personality.

As feelings arise, Haider finds himself torn between the injunctions weighing on him and the irresistible call to freedom.

A love story… but not only

Before going to see joyland, I’ve read some viewer reviews about it. It was then that I noticed ita point often came up. “Joyland is presented as a love story, but don’t be fooled, the film isn’t really about this love story. » What is he talking about, if not about this love story between Haider and Biba? Out of curiosity, I went to see the film. And indeed, I understand.

The romance promised by the poster and the film synopsis is embodied by Haider, a mute and introverted man and Biba, a transgender woman. But if there’s one character the summary doesn’t mention, it is Mammaz, Haider’s wife.

At the crossroads of patriarchal oppression, a fascinating portrait of women

Often, when there is a love story in a film, the characters of the betrayed women have little space. They remain relegated to the background. We feel sorry for them, but they remain excluded from the main storyline. Saim Sadiq’s film is an affront to this cinematic trope. It is precisely thanks to Mammazwhich has as much screen and writing space as Haider and Biba, that film takes on its full meaning.

Biba and Haider are far from being enemies and rivals. Actually, they are victims of the same macho system. The challenge of joyland is certainly to tell a love story. Only, that’s justa piece in the grand machine of patriarchy. This big car that oppresses women until their death, real or symbolicAnd dictates absurd manly behavior to men, joyland he stages it with edifying precision. Dissect all aspects of toxic masculinity and shows its deadly consequences through the fate of its characters.

For all these reasons, and others that we want you to discover for yourself, joyland it’s a great feminist film.

Transidentity is a central issue of feminism

joyland enjoys a breathtaking photographyeach shot of the film stimulating for her beautyof a incredible storyline, bold and heartbreaking as well as incredibly well written. We especially remember that of Biba, this woman at the same time strong, intelligent, but also very sensitive and showy.

A sign of great precision, the film has the advantage of sparing us scenes of unbearable violence, as we find in certain films which, under the pretext of “denouncing” the violence of which people are victims queer, just reconstructing the trauma on screen, as if it were a show.

Here, the violence that Biba suffers as a trans woman is dresswhich does not prevent him from being also shocking than revolting. She nestles inside Remarksin some words usedof the laughsometimes too simple looks, whose director manages to show in a camera movement that, indeed, they have nothing harmless. With impressive precision, the director also conjures society’s obsession with trans genitalia in two particularly memorable scenes, one in a dressing room, the other in a bedroom.

We won’t tell you more so as not to spoil this sensory, sensual, emotional and political experience that you shouldn’t miss for anything in the world… Enjoy your session!

Featured Image Credit: © Condor Distribution