#olfa hamrouni

[gael-garcia]

FOUR DAUGHTERS (2023, Kaouther Ben Hania) Cinematography by Farouk Laâridh

Between light and darkness stands Olfa, a Tunisian woman and the mother of four daughters. One day, her two older daughters disappear. To fill in their absence, the filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania invites professional actresses and invents a unique cinema experience that will lift the veil on Olfa and her daughters’ life stories.

[moviestillsforthesoul]

Four Daughters (2023)

[moviemosaics]

Four Daughters

directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, 2023

[genevieveetguy]

Four Daughters (Les filles d'Olfa), Kaouther Ben Hania (2023)

[screenzealots]

"Four Daughters"

A masterful documentary about sisterhood, motherhood, rebellion, memory, and the agony that thrives with inherited trauma.

In April 2016, Tunisian mother of four Olfa Hamrouni publicized the radicalization of her two teenager daughters, Rahma and Ghofrane. The two young women fled their home at ages 15 and 16 to fight alongside the Islamic State in Libya, leaving Olfa and her two youngest girls Eya and Tayssir heartbroken. Director Kaouther Ben Hania crafts a fascinating, compelling portrait of these complicated…

[warningsine]

Four Daughters (2023), dir. Kaouther Ben Hania

This riveting exploration of rebellion, memory, and sisterhood reconstructs the story of Olfa Hamrouni and her four daughters, unpacking a complex family history through intimate interviews and artful reenactments to examine how the Tunisian woman’s two eldest were radicalized. Casting professional actresses as the missing daughters, along with acclaimed Egyptian-Tunisian actress Hend Sabri as Olfa, Oscar® nominated director Kaouther Ben Hania (The Man Who Sold His Skin) restages pivotal moments in the family’s life. These scenes are interwoven with confessions and reflections from Olfa and her younger daughters, offering the women agency to tell their own story and capturing moments of joy, loss, violence, and heartache. Winner of four prizes including L’Oeil d'Or (Best Documentary) when it screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Four Daughters is a compelling portrait of five women and a unique and ambitious work of nonfiction storytelling that explores the nature of memory, the weight of inherited trauma, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.

[mymoviereviews]

Four Daughters (2023)

FOUR DAUGHTERS (2023) will burrow into your soul and lay bare the human condition. Read my review.

Original Title: Les filles d’Olfa Four Daughters, the brainchild of Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, is a documentary unlike any other I’ve seen. It weaves a heartbreaking narrative around Olfa Hamrouni, a mother grappling with the loss of her two eldest daughters to Islamic extremism. Ben Hania doesn’t get into the specifics of radicalisation; instead, she focuses on the emotional fallout…

[cavenewstimes]

Two daughters ran away to join Islamic State. Years later, their family’s story is an Oscar nominee

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Olfa Hamrouni doesn’t know much about her granddaughter; not her favorite toy nor food — is it the pasta the child’s mother loves, or something else? The Tunisian grandmother doesn’t even let her mind go there. “I don’t want to know. What for but more…

[blogynews]

"Unveiling a Mesmerizing Tale: Four Daughters Movie Review & Film Summary (2023)"

Olfa Hamrouni, the central figure in this captivating film, finds herself caught in a deeply personal struggle. Her two eldest daughters, Ghofrane and Rahma, vanished years ago, having been radicalized and drawn into the clutches of ISIS. As Olfa and her two remaining daughters, Eya and Tayssir, reflect upon their lives and the aftermath of their sisters’ departure, the intricate intersection of…

[blogynewz]

"Unveiling a Mesmerizing Tale: Four Daughters Movie Review & Film Summary (2023)"

Olfa Hamrouni, the central figure in this captivating film, finds herself caught in a deeply personal struggle. Her two eldest daughters, Ghofrane and Rahma, vanished years ago, having been radicalized and drawn into the clutches of ISIS. As Olfa and her two remaining daughters, Eya and Tayssir, reflect upon their lives and the aftermath of their sisters’ departure, the intricate intersection of…

[yessadirichards]

Dark, lustful and complex: It's a woman's world at Cannes

CANNES

From a sex offender to far-from-perfect mothers and girls unabashedly exploring their sexuality, this year's Cannes Film Festival has thrown out the stereotype of the one-dimensional female character.

Cinema has long stood accused of ignoring women's inner lives and complexities, or telling a story through the male gaze.

However, men and their opinions were relegated to a secondary role in many films at the world's leading industry shindig.

In "May December", Julianne Moore plays a woman who had a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old boy -- now her husband -- and is in denial years later over her wrongdoing.

A loving mother, but also a registered sex offender, the film sees her character grappling with buried crimes, in the role alongside Natalie Portman.

"The entire range of human behavior should be accessible to women because women are simply humans," said Portman, who loves to see women "behave in morally ambiguous ways".

"It always drives me crazy when people are like, oh, if only women rule the world, it would be a kinder place. No, women are humans and come in all different complexities."

This year Cannes boasts a record seven female directors in the official competition for the Palme D'Or prize -- and some films barely focus on men at all.

Even in "Firebrand", starring Jude Law as a repulsive King Henry VIII, the spotlight is on his sixth wife Catherine Parr as she struggles to avoid the fate of her predecessors.

In "Homecoming", by French director Catherine Corsini, a black woman returns to Corsica with her two daughters years after fleeing the French island in a hurry.

As they explore their mysterious past, her teenage daughters -- even the model student -- experiment with crime, drugs and sexuality.

At the same time, the complexity of motherhood, sacrifice and the decision to lie to your children all run under the surface.

Cannes cinemagoers also got an unusual glimpse into the lives of women from countries where they are often portrayed as merely oppressed and conservative.

In "Four Daughters", Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania made a hybrid film-documentary about a real mother, Olfa Hamrouni, whose two daughters joined the Islamic State group.

Hamrouni is at times sympathetic and at times repulsive as she recounts her own violence towards her daughters.

She is seen joking about her awful ex-husband, yearning for affection, yet intolerant when she overhears her daughters giggle about kissing boys or exploring their bodies.

"I wanted to show how women have internalised some patriarchal reflexes," Ben Hania told AFP.

In "Goodbye Julia" -- not in the main competition -- male director Mohamed Kordofani confronted his own sexism and racism as he put women at the forefront of a story about war in Sudan.

The movie explores the complex friendship between a black woman from pre-independence southern Sudan and an Arab woman from the north with an overbearing conservative husband.

"I started to review how I was behaving in my previous relationships. I reviewed my own racism," Kordofani told AFP.

Elsewhere at Cannes, British director Molly Manning Walker took a nuanced look at sexual assault and consent in her feature debut "How to Have Sex" on a judgement-free alcohol-fueled girls trip abroad.

"For me consent isn't black and white, it's not yes and no... if someone is having a bad time you should be able to recognize that," she said.

One Cannes showing that drew scorn for its portrayal of sexuality was new HBO series "The Idol" and its graphic raunchy scenes, directed by "Euphoria" creator Sam Levinson.

While the main character, played by Lily-Rose Depp, is portrayed as a complex character exploring her sexuality, some critics did not buy it.

Variety slammed its "tawdry cliches" and said the show "plays like a sordid male fantasy.

"One could argue there's something revolutionary in the way Levinson depicts female sexuality... but Levinson takes things too far in the other direction."

[gael-garcia]

Four Daughters (2023, Kaouther Ben Hania)

[lemagcinema]

Les filles d'Olfa 

Un film de Kaouther Ben Hania Avec: Hend Sabry, Nour Karoui, Ichraq Matar, Majd Mastoura, Olfa Hamrouni, Eya Chikahoui, Tayssir ChikhaouiLa vie d’Olfa, Tunisienne et mère de 4 filles, oscille entre ombre et lumière. Un jour, ses deux filles aînées disparaissent. Pour combler leur absence, la réalisatrice Kaouther Ben Hania convoque des actrices professionnelles et met en place un dispositif de cinéma hors du commun afin de lever le voile sur l’histoire d’Olfa et ses filles. Un voyage intime fait d’espoir, de rébellion, de violence, de transmission et de sororité qui va questionner le fondement même de nos sociétés.

Retrouvez l'article complet ici https://is.gd/R9TchG

[gael-garcia]

Four Daughters (2023, Kaouther Ben Hania)

[yessadirichards]

Cannes moved by film exploring girls' decision to join IS

CANNES

How do two girls go from being typical teenagers, kissing boys, dying their hair blue and entertaining a gothic phase -- to joining the Islamic State?

"Four Daughters", which premiered on Friday at the Cannes Film Festival, explores the true story of how a mother comes to terms with the decision by two of her children to flee to Libya and join the extremist organization, and her responsibility for it.

Not quite a feature film and not quite a documentary, Oscar-nominated Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania uses the mother, Olfa Hamrouni, and her two remaining daughters alongside actresses to recreate scenes from their life.

Olfa recounts her own upbringing, with devastating tales of trying to protect a house of women from predatory men, and the brutality of her wedding night.

Initially a sympathetic character, complexities emerge as she is forced to confront how her desire to keep her daughters safe led her to repeat generational violence and trauma.

Viewers see Hamrouni as for the first time she hears her daughters recount their experiences of her as a mother, and her shock when she catches them giggling about growing breasts or exploring their bodies.

"It's clear she absorbed the conservative, male-oriented point of view that innocent girls are but one misstep away... from instant transformation into 'whores'," wrote Deadline magazine.

The violence of men, and Tunisia's politics throughout the Arab Spring are constantly in the background.

Even after losing two daughters to the Islamic State, and despite the fact she doesn't wear the hijab, she said she loved her daughters wearing it as it made her feel they were safer.

"Four Daughters is an enthralling narrative about memory, motherhood and the inherited traumas of a patriarchal society," said The Hollywood Reporter.

Deadline said it would be "a deserving winner" of the Palme D'Or, to be announced on May 27.

"I wanted to explore the violence that we transmit from mother to daughter that is not unique to Tunisian society," Ben Hania told AFP, calling it a "curse".

"The new world has yet to arrive," she said of Tunisia after the 2011 revolution and the rise of Islamists in the country.