The youngest of three sisters in a conservative Franco-Arab household, Fatima is absorbed in her studies and resisting the family pressure to be married off like her siblings. But the pull to explore sensual realms grows stronger by the day, exacerbated by the ever-growing disdain she feels for her secret gentleman caller who’s already planning their future. As the realization kicks in, she decides to pursue her attraction to women with abandon, opening herself up to a wide array of romantic highs and lows.
Hafsia Herzi (A Bag of Four, The Rapture) returns to VIFF with yet another emotionally astute drama featuring a notably sharp turn by Nadia Melliti, which earned her the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. Herzi’s skill for drawing out quietly intense, naturalistic performances truly shines in this beautifully lensed, layered character study where the weight of cultural identity inevitably pushes the envelope of relationship paradigms.
Best Actress (Nadia Melliti), Cannes 2025
Nadia Melliti, Ji-Min Park
France/Germany
2025
In French and Arabic with English subtitles
At International Village
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Producer
Julie Billy, Naomi Denamur, Vanessa Ciszewski
Screenwriter
Hafsia Herzi
Cinematography
Jérémie Attard
Editor
Géraldine Mangenot
Production Design
Diéné Berete
Original Music
Amine Bouhafa
Hafsia Herzi
Filmography: You Deserve a Lover (2019); Good Mother (2021)
Photo by Chloe Carbonel
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