In 1963, a key work of second-wave feminism was published in the United States : The Feminine Mystique by journalist Betty Friedan. Constructed as a sociological investigation, Friedan's book focused on a form of malaise afflicting educated white women from middle-class backgrounds, who were languishing in their bourgeois and comfortable marriages. She analyzed the symptoms, but primarily the causes of this unnamed malady; the establishment of a feminine mystique aimed at bringing women back to the home after their temporary "emancipation" during World War II, which had led them to adopt roles in the public and professional spheres. This book sparked outrage by revealing to women what they knew but dared not admit to themselves, but more importantly, by linking their individual distress to a social and historical context. Finally, the wall of domesticity was breached, and women would no longer easily allow themselves to be confined to it.

Souris, tu m'inquiètes, a film by the little-known Aimée Danis (who would later have a successful career as a producer) made as part of the NFB's En tant que femmes program, contributes to this same awareness. Using fiction but integrating documentary sequences that blur the fictional nature of the narrative, Danis seeks to unveil the condition of "Québécois women." While not particularly inclusive, she nevertheless seeks to move beyond biographical anecdotes, notably by incorporating radio show segments where women anonymously confide their distress. At a time when mental and domestic burdens were almost exclusively on mothers, and where the social safety net – primarily the vital and constantly threatened daycare system – was full of holes, motherhood could quickly be experienced as alienation. This kind of testimony reminds us of how much chosen motherhood is a luxury, and that the struggles to defend it will not be made obsolete anytime soon.

Naomie Décarie-Daigneault
Tënk Artistic Director