Five Inspirations is a series in which we ask directors to share five things that shaped and informed their film. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's Lingui, the Sacred Bonds is showing exclusively on MUBI in many countries starting March 8, 2022 in the series Luminaries.
INSPIRATION #1
Wall, Wall
In N'djamena, these narrow streets wind like labyrinths and these walls give the impression that we are surrounded. I used them like a trap, a prison in which Amina and her daughter try to escape from.
INSPIRATION #2
Night in N'djamena
In this street, public lighting is rare in the popular neighborhoods of N'djamena. I wanted to recreate those thick nights in Lingui.
INSPIRATION #3
Maria Magdalene (c. 1594-1596) by Caravaggio
In Lingui, I used bright and dark tones inspired by this painting. The ecstasy of Maria Madeleine has also inspired the shot of Amina looking at the sky filled with clouds.
INSPIRATION #4
Pleasures of the Flesh (1965) by Nagisa Oshima
Even though it's not Oshima’s best film, in Pleasures of the Flesh he has a sense of image composition and a sense of deframing.
INSPIRATION #5
There Will Be Blood (2007) by Paul Thomas Anderson
The opening of the film inspired the sequence at the beginning of Lingui where we see Amina at work. Exhausting manual work, loneliness, and determination. All the fighting spirit of the character is there.