Debuting Algerian director Benguigui uses humour and poetry to describe a compatriot´s thorny road to self-awareness and emancipation in 1970´s France. The film was first screened in Toronto where it won the International Film Critics’ Prize (FIPRESCI).
In 1974 the French government allowed the families of Algerians working in France to come and live with them. Thus young Zouina finds herself in France but she quickly becomes aware of her position in the family hierarchy when she arrives at the French port: her husband first welcomes his mother, then the children and finally his wife whom he has not seen for years. In the home she is nothing more than a servant with no rights whatsoever. She is allowed no contact with the outside world, she is criticised by her mother-in-law and her husband beats her regularly to remind her who’s boss. Even so, with the support and friendship of a liberal young French woman, Zouina slowly begins to broaden her horizons and acquire self-confidence. The director’s central figure is portrayed with true conviction in an authentic story told with a humorous and poetic approach.
98 min / Black & white, 35 mm
Director Yamina Benguigui
/ Screenplay Yamina Benguigui
/ Dir. of Photography Antoine Roch
/ Music Michel Vionnet
/ Editor Nadia Ben Rachid
/ Producer Philippe Dupuis-Mendel
/ Production ARP Selection
/ Cast Fejria Deliba, Rabia Mokedem, Amina Annabi, Anass Behri
Yasmina Benguigui made two short features before Inch´Allah Dimanche – The Long Trips of Lalla Amina (2000) and Pimprenelle (2001), which have played at a number of international film festivals.
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