Reflecting on Nationalist Discourse through Film

“we are we” is a short film based on a text by Noémi Lefebvre, created with Laurent Grappe for a series of Lancaster Litfest events on the theme of “Found in Translation: Literary Dispatches from the Peripheries of Europe,” which took place on March 29, 2019. Organized by Delphine Grass (Lancaster University), the AHRC/MEITS-funded event and workshops explored the idea of “peripheries” through the transformative powers of translation. Writers and poets from France, Ukraine, Germany, and the UK were commissioned to write texts on the topic as well as to respond to each other’s texts through the medium of creative translation.

Noémi Lefebvre’s text for the short film “we are we” was inspired by the language used around Brexit in British and French newspapers. Through the trope of European explorers’ tales, it reflects on the fears and anxieties surrounding notions of the periphery and the center in nationalist discourse. The accompanying translation is by Sophie Lewis.

Video: “we are we” by Noémi Lefebvre, created with Laurent Grappe. Translation by Sophie Lewis.

we are we (transcript)

—We are part of it

—Absolutely

—That’s the way it is

—It always has been

—But we are not within it

—Absolutely not

—We have never been truly within it even when we were

—We were in but without being of it

—We were in but only in part

—Sometimes people ask us “But how is it you don’t want to be part of it when you say that you are part of it?”

—They wonder how that’s possible so they ask us

—We tell them that we are indeed part of it, but that we don’t want to be within it since we aren’t

—Actually it’s quite clear

—We are not on the outside

—Even while not being within it

—This way of being, being of it even while not being of it, that’s so us.

—It’s so us to be us

—That’s how it is

—It always has been

—Do you remember the time we realized we were us?

—It was a Friday, I think

—We’d gone on a trip

—In a boat

—We prefer going by boat

—It reminds us of the sea

—There was a major storm

—With enormous waves

—A gale blew up along the coast to SSE

—And it was raining a little

—Not to mention the fog

—We thought we were lost

—We had to be very frugal with our provisions

—We had only one small sandwich each

—We were that close to dying

—But we survived

—For we are us after all

—After many adventures

—An hour-and-a-half’s crossing

—We discovered a land

—It was a new world

—Exotic

—We spotted some people on the coast who stopped to look at us

—They weren’t naked, their skin was pale

—They were making gestures and speaking a language

—They were foreign beings

—I think they were foreigners

—Anyway their clothes were quite ridiculous

—They were covered in tunics made of plant fibers

—With phrases printed on the back or the chest

—Their feet were covered in cow’s skins

—Or perhaps it was fake cow you can never tell

—They were eating things that they picked out of cleverly decorated boxes

—Or out of bags, made from tree pulp, I think

—They were drinking liquids of various colors

—From little gourds made out of modified petrol

—They were speaking into rectangles and walking around with wires dangling from their ears

—They had rituals, laws, regulated customs, and probably even a government

—They also had agriculture, a complete infrastructure, roads and villages . . .

—And fairly well-organized cities.

—They supported the arts and broadcast their knowledge on great signboards displayed in the streets.

—It looked as though they belonged to a rather civilized society

—As unbelievable as that may appear

—For a brief instant, we had the strange feeling that we were the strangers

—When that was them

—We did business with them

—In the language of business

—We brought them little things

—Trinkets

—That we hoped to exchange for other trinkets

—But after a while we felt we might be being taken for a ride

—We began to have doubts about the people of that region

—They looked like us

—They were human beings

—Just like us

—There’s no doubting that

—Of course

—But they were different

—Completely different

—They were human beings, clearly, but they weren’t like us

—That’s what we said to each other, they’re not like us

—Only we can really be like us