Name__________________________
1. Where does this story take place?
2. What do you think the young woman is thinking about in the opening scene? Just use your imagination.
3. What do we know about the young woman at the beginning of the film?
4. What do you know about the man who picks her up?
5. What is the French woman’s name? Why is it a curious name?
6. What does the young woman begin to dream about?
7. Why would she develop a respect and love for African men?
8. What kind of a home does the French colonial family live in?
9. What kind of relationship does the Cameroonian man (the “boy”) have with the French family?
10. What is the significance of his name, Protée?
11. Why are the French colonials always singing little reminiscent French songs?
12. What is the significance of the blood that Protée applies to France
13. How does Protée’s role begin to take on some subtle changes?
14. WHy does Protée throw the bucket down?
15. One of the themes in colonial literature is that of the colonialist’s sense of isolation. What examples from the film come to mind when you think of Aimée? Contrast that to her daughter’s sense of belonging there? Examples?
16. What message is scrawled in German on one of the columns of the house? What does this message convey to us about colonial life from the perspective of the colonizer?
17. What is Segalen’s role in this colonial setting? What kind of behavior on his part bothers the other Eurpoeans? Why do the women like him?
18. How would you describe Delpiche? What is his role in the film from the cinematographer’s perspective?
19. Why is Protée upset when he sees Segalen taking a shower in the “boy’s” shower?
20. How does Segalen ruffle the feathers of the colonialists when the one woman gets really sick?
21. Why does Segalen purposefully insult and pick a fight with Protée?
22. Why does Protée burn his hand? What lasting effect did this “acte gratuit” have on young France
23. What is it like to be an African-American living in Africa ?
24. What would France ’s experience been like if she had actually gone back to northern Cameroon
25. Do you think that Protée is happier now?
26. What is the symbolism of the rain at the end of the film?
27. What political upheaval happened in Cameroon
that the little girl France grew into a young woman?
