The first words we hear in the movie’s opening scene are “I should never have left my country!‘ They are uttered slowly with great sadness by Moncef a 60 year man of Middle-Eastern origin. He and his family have ended up as immigrants in Paris far from home and he is desperate to insure that even in this alien land, they remain faithful to all the traditions and cultures of their past. It is however his rigid clinging so stubbornly to the old ways that will have fatal consequences and ultimately destroy his family.
He and his wife have two grown up children. The son although unmarried has his own apartment and and enjoys the freedom of any European young man, but Cobra the daughter lives at home under the very strict watchful eye of her father. Each morning she leaves to go to work with her black hijabi tied on tightly but en route to her office she pops in to a coffee bar and whilst the Barista is making her a drink she goes into the bathroom and comes out moments later scarf less displaying her wonderful tresses.
Her young boss is madly in love with her, even though she has never ever encouraged him. After all she has never been allowed to be alone with a man before let alone kiss one. His attentiveness emboldens her and she pleads with her father to allow her to stay over at her work colleague’s house one night just so that she can go on a date and go dancing like French girls her age.
Cobra knows that if she is ever going to have her freedom then she might as make the right choice, and so rejects her wealthy suitor in order to date the man who has always loved her : the Barista. She is so sure that this is ‘the real thing’ and is even prepared to introduce her beau to her parents, but before she can she is spotted in a Bar having fun and flirting by one of her father’s friends who tells all.
Moncef calls on his son to tell him that he must restore honor to the family after this ‘disgrace’ in the only way possible according to their culture. He soon regrets this decision but by then it is far too late.
The irony of the situation is that in their own way the parents had also bucked tradition when they met as a young couple and fell in love and had given up getting the usual dowry so that their own parents would approve their marriage too.
This rather wonderfully moving film written & directed by Iranian Jacques Bral takes great care not to pass judgement on either of these conflicting cultures, but he acutely observes the problems they cause in a rapidly changing society. M. Bral is hardly a prolific filmmaker …. I think this is his 6th in 40 years …. and I am guessing that one the reasons is that he puts a great deal of thought into each one of them. What I particularly liked was he is a man of few(er than normal) words and instead lets the images tell the story a great deal of the time. Highly reccomended.
Coming hot on the heals of ‘Wajma’ that I reviewed a few days ago, I think I need to take a break from the plight of middle-eastern women in contemporary for wee while.
(And yes, I was superficially attracted to this movie initially by the title which is my own personal mantra too)
