TURN BACK THE CLOCK
Travel to 1950s Tangiers from the comfort of your sofa with this alluring adaptation of Anaïs Nin’s seductive short stories
‘My art is very deeply entwined with my screenwriting,’ says Sophia Al-Maria. ‘Balancing the two helps me to keep changing and growing.’ Something of a polymath, Al-Maria was raised in the US and Qatar, and studied in both London and Cairo, giving her a uniquely cosmopolitan outlook that underpins her work as a writer, film-maker and multimedia artist. Her acutely observed memoir The Girl Who Fell to Earth examines the complexities of her background and identity, while her recent exhibitions at Tate Britain and the Whitechapel Gallery have explored themes of history, feminism and multiculturalism. Now, she has translated some of these ideas to the small screen with her script for Sky Atlantic’s compelling new drama Little Birds, set in 1950s Morocco.
The series takes its title and inspiration from an erotic shortstory collection by the late author and essayist Anaïs Nin, whom Al-Maria describes as a ‘formative influence’. ‘When I moved to Egypt for university, there were some of her books in the library, and reading them was quite an education – they really expanded my horizons,’ she recalls. ‘Nin was a very complex character – a libertine who did what she wanted and didn’t ask anyone’s permission, who was married to multiple people and tried some pretty intense things – but I find her passion for living deeply and examining her own life very inspiring.’ Working on the script, Al-Maria took a fairly free hand in terms of plot and character development (‘It was an exciting task to adapt a book that’s basically just a succession of vignettes’), but sought to stay true to Nin’s principles of sexual liberation and female emancipation.
Her decision to translate the narrative to 1955 Tangiers, a year before the city was restored to Moroccan rule, is no coincidence. The majority of the action unfurls within the so-called international zone, an area then administered jointly by France, Spain and the UK. This resulted in a richly diverse community with an outwardly liberal, bohemian spirit but an undercurrent of corruption and inequality. ‘I wanted to look at that world through a different lens from the Western European version,’ explains Al-Maria. ‘There’s very much an end-of-an-era, last-hurrah feel.’
Though actually filmed in Andalusia, the production perfectly captures the colourful character of this unique period in Moroccan
history; the night-time scenes in particular have a heady, underground atmosphere that is enhanced by low lighting and a warm, pinkish glow. Thanks to the pairing of Al-Maria’s artistic eye with the vision of the American director Stacie Passon, every episode is a visual feast, full of vividly imagined, hedonistic parties and orgiastic dances, with a deliberate contrast made between the wealthy foreigners’ lavishly decorated mansions and the locals’ more spartan quarters.
As Al-Maria’s characters navigate this unpredictable society, each grapples with a different challenge. The volatile heroine Lucy Savage, played by Juno Temple, is an American debutante desperate to embark on adventure but held back by her marriage to a staid English aristocrat who is conflicted about his sexuality. Meanwhile, the Moroccan brothel worker Cherifa Lamour (Yumna Marwan) finds herself unwittingly caught up in local politics when she attracts the attention of a villainous French politician. This is glossy melodrama at its best, but beneath the veneer of intrigue is a story with a lot of heart: in particular, the evolving relationship between Lucy and Cherifa offers a hopeful alternative to the ghettoising tendencies of colonial rule. ‘I set out to write something that would be about women working together for a shared goal,’ says Al-Maria. ‘I want anything I do to have that sentiment of solidarity.’
The sex scenes, too, are filmed with a contemporary understanding of romance in all its different guises, creating a narrative that is perhaps kinder and more tolerant than one that Nin might have authored, being constrained by the prejudices of her own era. ‘It was important to recreate the eroticism of Nin’s stories,’ reflects Al-Maria, ‘but to do so with a loving eye.’ The result is a drama that punctuates its scandal with moments of real poignancy; one that, like all of Al-Maria’s work, is sweeping in its scope but deeply personal at its core. ‘Little Birds’ will air on Sky Atlantic and Now TV in August.