Movie Critic Tunisian feminist graphic / Baby Jane type movie. 3 generations of women live in the servant's quarters of a deserted mansion. The owners pay a visit for a few days throwing a party. The woman visitor the owner? is captured when she gets too nosy and held captive. Where are the police her boyfriend?? The youngest girl turns out as the story develops to be the daughter of her sister by the sister's father so that is the secret these women are hiding.You get to witness all the gratuitous twists and turns of feminist graphic realism of this young girls sexual interests as well as her sister masturbating with a sink...shaving her legs...voyeurism of the young couple...her grandmother checking her crotch for virginity all those meaningful liberated women topics that kind of turn your stomach to be honest.When will they learn that realism doesn't equal art nor good story telling (usually the opposite) nor good movies? However it is probably guaranteed a prize at a film festival.The mansion (digital creation) looks like a Russian orthodox church welded on top a house---with some South Pacific palm trees... I think the computer artist was trying to create something out of 1001 Arabian Nights. It resembled nothing remotely Tunisian I ever saw the and I lived there 5 years. The palm trees look like coconut not the date palms of N. Africa. The interior looks like a 20s Hollywood horror mansion. Why didn't they hire a Tunisian to do these computer graphics? All they got right were the olive groves.These 3 women imprison the female who visits the mansion with her boyfriend...eventually killing her and burying her at the end. The young girl then smoothers her grandmother?/sister's mother and carves up her half sister/mother with a razor blade. Then walks down the streets of Tunis in a blood soaked nightgown with a prominent menstrual blood spot along with her sisters blood.Being brutally honest this is why I avoid movies written or directed by women. They often seem to get carried away with gratuitous graphic sexuality and corporeal realism issues that are totally unnecessary.The story had potential but not the way this was done plus it is kind of old hat...hidden incest etc... I watched it because I lived in Tunis but you get about 2 minutes of real street scenes and an hour and half of inaccurate fantasy digital backdrops in this femlib realism tour de force.DO NOT RECOMMEND

artu_ue I have just seen this film at the Kustendorf festival. Having never seen a Tunisian film before, I eagerly anticipated to see this one and must admit I got more than expected. Good story of oppression, tyranny and rebellion, natural acting and even a few shots of nudity which I would never expect to see in an Arab film. Aicha, Radia and their strict mother live removed from the world in the servant's quarters of a deserted house. Aicha, a teen who is discovering her femininity, has never been schooled nor underwent any form of socialization other than the satisfaction of her basic needs like food and shelter. Her controlled visits to the outside are enough to trigger curiosity but the ruling hand of the mother is stronger. Due to her lack of social behavior and skill Aicha seems a little mentally challenged unlike her sister Radia, who had her share with the outside in the past and seems more acceptant to their retreat that seems to hide some very dark and painful secrets. Their obscure existence is shaken when a young modern couple moves into the main house. A bizarre cohabitation settles between the couple and the three women who decide not to make their presence known to these undesirable neighbours, but Aicha becomes enthralled by their way of life, putting her own family at risk. Their hideout is eventually discovered by the girl who was then taken prisoner so while having to live together she uncovers some family secrets which led to a violent ending. The final scene is nothing but a masterpiece!Raja Amari examines what it is to have secrets and to what lengths a family will go to keep them. She visualized what oppression and abuse can lead to and how violent the human being's urge for dignity and freedom can be. Also,the film addressed an extremely important issue in Arab or any other society and that is the clash between the two worlds - the world of modern women and the ones closed in themselves under multiple pretexts and sometimes even against their own will. I'm off to try to find Amari's debut work 'Red Satin' that also explores the struggle of a woman torn between modernity and tradition.