After a wave of violent criticism on social networks, the actress-director takes the floor to defend her project and the messages she wanted to convey.
After numerous criticisms on social networks, Nawell Madani takes the floor. The Belgian actress and humorist, whose series So far, so good has been a hit on Netflix for nearly a week, does not “understand” the wave of animosity caused by the program, especially on Twitter, as she explained Wednesday evening on the set of Clique:
“I did a project that highlights women,” she defended herself against Mouloud Achour. “My intention was noble”.
Unveiled on April 7 on Netflix, So far, so good follows a young woman from the neighborhoods caught between her dreams of journalism and the delinquency of her younger brother. Surrounded by her sisters, she finds herself caught up in organized crime to protect her family. A thriller tinged with humor for which Nawell Madani, who plays the main role, also served as screenwriter and director.
“I wanted to talk about neighborhood women who are fighting”
Six days after its release, the program is the most watched series in France and the seventh in the world. A box of hearings which is accompanied by a setback: many criticisms, sometimes violent, on social networks. “Another stereotypical series that uses the image of the suburbs for bad purposes by trying to use cultural prejudices and it seems that there are only stories of drugs in our suburbs”, accused in particular an Internet user a few days ago.
“I wanted to talk about neighborhood women who fight for their brothers,” explains Nawell Madani. “Of the absence of the father, of how we are lost when he leaves, how his daughters take the place.”
The stand-up star revealed by the Jamel Comedy Club explains that the most painful criticism, “is when you hear that you have stigmatized more”: “I put a radiant, solar veiled woman (Kahina Carina), an invalid girl, the children of Yasmina (Carima Amarouche) who are overweight, people we’re not used to seeing in pictures.”
“A veiled woman took me in her arms and said to me (about the character of Kahina Carina): ‘the fact that this woman chose her faith, when the idea that the veil is imposed on women, may she be free and fight for her daughter… you won me over because I recognized myself,'” she said.
Denounce all racism
The actress adds that she wanted to “point the finger” at the racism faced by minorities from immigration, as much on the part of “Franco-French” as “between Algerians, between North Africans, between North Africans and black Africans (… ) We wanted to talk about the racism and sexism that we can encounter in the media, but also in the neighborhoods, the family.
Another recurring criticism concerned the choice of Paola Locatelli, influencer and actress of Cape Verdean and Italian origin, to play a young girl of North African origin: “We must also set an example. We are happy to see Lyna Khoudri play Constance In The three Musketeers“, Nawell Madani answers.
The multi-cap artist, who co-directed his first film That’s all for me in 2017, also adds a word about the violent harassment she has been subjected to since the release of the film: “When you start insulting people or you ask that God punish me and break my back in two… “.
But she concludes by referring to the series’ “amazing” viewing figures since its release, the many positive reviews that have been pouring in these days after the wave of dissatisfaction, and adds: “I think if (the series) does so many noise, it’s because we’re not used to seeing that on the bill.”
