Du non-lieu au lieu anthropologique : espace et altérité dans The Forgiven

Abstract

This article examines the dialectics of space and otherness in John Michael McDonagh’s film The Forgiven (2021), adapted from Lawrence Osborne’s novel. By mobilizing Marc Augé’s spatial theory of “non-places” and “anthropological places,” alongside Michel Foucault’s concept of “heterotopia,” we analyze how the film constructs a radical geographical and ethical fracture. The luxurious, neo-colonial tourist enclave of Azna functions as an amnesic non-place of ethical indifference, structural asymmetry, and cultural commodification. Conversely, the accidental death of a young local fossil seller, Driss, acts as a violent spatial rupture. This event forces the Western protagonist, David, to leave his protective bubble and embark on a physical and spiritual journey into the real Moroccan desert—an anthropological place saturated with history, memory, and native mourning. We argue that this forced spatial transition operates as a device for ethical unveiling, stripping the protagonist of his post-colonial immunity and confronting him with a vulnerable, raw encounter with the Other. Ultimately, the film avoids cathartic redemption, showing that while traversing anthropological spaces makes ethical accountability possible, it cannot heal the lingering geopolitical fractures.