Hiam Abbass and Slimane Dazi talk of ‘Oussekine’

The actors, who play the parents of the slain student in Antoine Chevrollier’s gripping four-part series, speak of the emotional toll the show took on them 

On December 6, 1986, in Paris, police chased and beat Malik Oussekine to death. That was a turning point in the student protests against university reforms under the Devaquet Law. Oussekine, a 22-year-old student, was not a participant in the demonstrations — he was walking alongside the protesters on the way home.

The fallout of the police brutality, the subsequent cover-up and the Oussekine family’s attempts for justice and to make sense of their dreadful loss are the subject of Antoine Chevrollier’s gripping four-part series,  Oussekine.

Hiam Abbass who plays Malik’s mother, Aicha, says she was not living in France during the incident. Speaking over a video call from Paris, Abbass says, “I knew Antoine was writing something about a kid who was killed by the police. I didn’t know who Malik Oussekine was. When it became clear to Antoine where he was going with the story, he told me he was writing a part for me and he wanted my interpretation of the mother of this boy.”

The Palestinian actor and director was not very enthused of the part in the beginning. “To be honest, I thought ‘Not another mother of an Arab guy’.” The  Succession actor nevertheless agreed to read the script. “I started reading the first episode and didn’t stop till the end. I was so intensely drawn by every second of it. Once I finished reading, it hit me and I realised what I had read.”

Abbass says she called Chevrollier immediately but was so moved by the story that she could not speak. “He was worried and asked, ‘Are you okay?’ I said this is amazing. There was no consideration of a ‘no’ in there and we went for it.”

Research for Abbass involved not reading anything about the case online before reading the script. “I didn’t want to be influenced by things that were said about the family. I wanted my process of prepping for the part to be true to the spirit of this mother and not necessarily what others told us about her. Once I was ready to read, Antoine and the writing room gave me a document they had created with all the material and lots of links about the case and the time.”

The cast could refer to the document for historical details, Abbass says. “Sometimes I would ask Antoine or other writers to help me understand.” The costume, hair and makeup work was also part of the prepping for the part, Abbass says. “I used the elements of that woman, at that time in history, to create a truthful portrait of her today. You could not go into this part, dressed as I am right now ( laughs). The crew makes life easy for actors. They do our job. We just come and see if we fit or not.”