Les silences du palais

25-year-old Alia is working as a singer at a dull wedding when she hears that Prince Sid'Ali has died. The news confronts Alia, who grew up in his palace, with her past again. She visits the palace where she spent her childhood and adolescence and where her mother was a servant. While she wanders through the deserted corridors, we experience through the eyes of the younger Alia the world of the women who were kept as luxury slaves in the palace while the struggle against colonial oppression raged outside.
In her memories, we meet her brave mother, who protected Alia against the furtive desires of the prince and we experience Alia´s painful and silent quest for the identity of her father.
This layered, emotional story is an indictment that reflects the situation of women of the later generation. In 1994, Tlatli picked up the best debut award in Cannes. More recently, following the Tunisian revolution, she was briefly Minister of Culture.