The diverse corpus of films examined in this book challenges the notion that first-generation Maghrebi women, as a group, constitute a uniformly silent generation and are victims because of their status as immigrant women from a former French colony, Muslim women, or women in a traditionally patriarchal culture. Many of these films do acknowledge in one way or another the disempowered position of some Maghrebi women in France, but, as I have shown in the preceding chapters, a common narrative thread shared by many of the films is how first-generation women confront challenges, seek solutions to problems, take on new responsibilities, and adapt to unfamiliar and sometimes difficult situations.

When considered together, these films encourage further reflection about certain perceptions of Maghrebi women in France, and how these have come about. The films remind us that while terms such as ‘Maghrebi women’, ‘first-generation women’, and ‘Muslim women’ may be used to describe individuals of this particular generation, such words in fact encompass sets of experiences, viewpoints, and personalities that are incredibly diverse and even contradictory at times. For example, these cinematic representations point to notable variations in how Maghrebi women express themselves. They suggest that self-expression can come in many forms, both verbal and non-verbal. As we have seen, first-generation women can certainly be driven to silence for a number of reasons, including a desire not to attract attention to themselves or fear of physical harm, yet, at the same time, silence actually serves as a form of protest or rebellion for some women.

This diversity of representations extends in several other directions. For example, the wide-ranging depictions of Maghrebi women and their families in this film corpus reveal different motivations for migrating to France. While the vast majority of women of this generation came to France as the wives of economic migrants, some films depict various other experiences and scenarios. They suggest that the living conditions the women faced upon their arrival in France (and in the years following) could also vary significantly, ranging from bidonvilles to apartments, rural areas, and urban spaces. The women's ties to their country of origin are also diverse. Some maintain strong ties to their home country, return on a regular basis, and/or plan to move back one day, while others never return and accept that they will always remain in France, with their children.