Yet they are so dependent on the palace that they are too afraid to leave it for the unknown in the outside world. Even the legitimate wives must obey the princes in every aspect of their lives. They cannot protest when their husbands take mistresses and publicly humiliate them. The film shows very powerfully the inequality of men and women in the palace. Men are shown talking politics and world affairs while women spend time looking in mirrors and gossiping.
Mothers teach their daughters how to please and get a man.
Alia manages to escape the palace, fleeing with a man after singing at her sister Sarra's wedding, but she is unable to escape the emotional damage of her upbringing. Alia's musical talent wins her praise and material goods, but it cannot win her freedom. She is still trapped in a world of inequality and hardship for women. The Two Worlds of the Baroness de Pontalba Book reading and signing by the author, Dr. Christine Vella, Tulane University. Her book is a biography of a woman who lived between the two worlds of New Orleans and Paris in the late 18 th and early 19 th centuries.