Harem of Jewish slave traders to supply eunuchs to harems depended on whether they could acquire castrated males. European artists and writers envisioned and presented the Oriental harem in a romanticized, albeit historically inaccurate manner. The dark eunuch was held as the embodiment of the sensual tyranny that held sway in the fantasized Ottoman palace, for he had been "clipped" or "completely sheared" to make of him the "ultimate slave" for the supreme ruler. In the Ottoman court, white eunuchs, who were mostly brought from castration centers in Christian Europe and Circassia, were responsible for much of the palace administration, while
What Is a Man Without a Moustache? in New York City on May 25, 2006. At the 53rd Pula Film Festival, the film won the Golden Gate of Pula award as the audience's favourite. At the same festival, Cvitešić won the Golden Arena award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Tamara Obrovac won the award for Best Music Score. In addition to winning at Pula, Cvitešić also won the Best Actress Award at the 11th Sarajevo Film Festival. "What Is a Man Without a Moustache?" received generally positive reviews from critics. As of March 9, 2010, aggregate review website Metacritic registered a normalized rating of