This ar t icle investigates modes and representations of modernity as encountered in the daily usage of language in Morocco and Algeria.1 I approach Maghrebi (North African) modernity by focusing first on vernacular language and then discussing some key cultural productions. Drawing first on Driss Chraïbi’s novel, Le Passé simple,2 I later turn to the film, Viva Laldjérie, for these texts pose important questions with regard to Maghrebi cultural modernity at large.