Are all the kids supposed to be Muslim/North African? Or has Lydia simply picked up some Muslim expressions? She is referred to at one point (in the English subtitles) as "the blonde" so maybe she's not from an immigrant family? (We never see her relatives I don't think to be sure.)
shareWell although the majority are immigrants from north Africa and elsewhere (Turkey etc.) in these "cités", there are plenty of "actual" French people living there too.
As with any community, one speaks in the same way as those around them and so that is why she speaks in the same way as the others.
Its only like street slang anywhere in the world plenty of people emulate the way in which these people speak.
Yes, another illustration of the prof.'s reading of the core idea of the play being that we are inescapably products of our social milieu.
shareLydia must be from an immigrant family from Bosnia or from the Balkan region. Not all Muslims are North Africans, Arabs, Indonesians or Malaysians.
shareLydia is just caucasian French, with christian or atheistic background, 100% sure. As I've grown up myself in the parisian suburb not far from that kind of area, I can confirm that every single kids in the hood are swearing on the Koran, using colloquial arabic-french mixed expressions, etc., it doesn't matter if they're originally from North Africa, China, Senegal, Portugal or else, in the hood, they all speak the same, with the same street language, using many arabic expressions. I hope that helped.
shareI think Rozylbaby is absolutely right. As a French viewer, it was quite obvious to me that Lydia's character is French. There are many people of French descent who live in what we call the "banlieues", and there is nothing surprising that Lydia/Sara Forestier uses the same phrases than her friends. She belongs to the same environment.
shareI also assumed Lydia to be franco-française (although it is perfectly possible that she would be from a European immigrant background) but there is a rich mixture of races represented in the film, incluing people of African and Asian origin. The language of the kids is that of the banlieues (the suburbs/housing estates) and is not specifically 'muslim' (although it includes elements that derive to some extent from muslim cultures). It is not the French of Marivaux but it is absolutely and authentically French and is spoken by kids of all colours, creeds and racial origins.
shareVery interesting, I assumed Lydia to be from North-Africa !
Remember that there are several non-Arab ethnic groups living in North-Africa. In French : Kabyles, Chaoui, Schleuh. It is not rare to see blond or red haired persons coming from North-Africa, but maybe you did not suspect their parents came from North-Africa, ... because of the colour of their hair !
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Simply because I live in one of these "banlieues".
Three families in my neighbourhood come from Poland, unfortunately they are dark-haired ! The blond-haired ones come from Serbia, Bosnia (they are Muslims) and North-Africa (Kabylie).
I did not suspect Lydia to be a name given to a Polish girl.
BTW, many families from North-Africa now name their boys "Rahiane", because in France we pronounce it the same way as "Ryan".
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There is quite an interesting comparison I think to be made between this film and Jean-Loup Hubert's 3 Petites Filles which came out the following year and also features Sabrina Ouazani (Frida in L'Esquive). The Hubert film is also a very good film - more accessible, a good deal more dramatic and in a sense "better acted" but it is a less interesting and less innovative film than L'Esquive. Nevertheless it is worth noting that the language of the three youngsters in the film (from very much more middle class backgrounds) is not so wildly different from that of the protagonists in L'Esquive and recognisably belongs on the same continuum.
sharejust finished watching this great movie. i'm assuming lydia is muslim cos she used the phrase "inshallah" (god willing) numerous times. or is "inshallah" just a cool/hip phrase that the kids use, regardless of their religion.
"or is "inshallah" just a cool/hip phrase that the kids use, regardless of their religion."
I'd rather think that. The phrase is so overused that it doesn't have a "Muslim feel" about it any longer.