Dr/Wri: Mehdi Barsaoui | Fatma Sfar, Nidhal Saadi, Yasmine Dimassi, Hela Ayed | Thriller, 123’
Aïcha, the sole survivor of a bus crash, secures a new identity in this exciting and enlightening change of life thriller from Tunisian filmmaker Mehdi Barsaoui.
Working as a chambermaid in a luxury hotel, Aïcha has been in an impossible situation. Her parents are in debt, and forcing her into a loveless marriage. She’s also caught up in an affair with a married man who promises more than he can offer. So the crash, although traumatic, offers a reprieve and the chance to disappear and totally reinvent herself in another part of Tunisia. There were no witnesses to testify to her survival.
Mehdi M. Barsaoui avoids melodrama to offer a fascinating look at the North African nation through the eyes of a clever young woman who has gains agency due to chance and sheer chutzpah on her part.
We get to know Aïcha through a nuanced characterisation that shows how she is shaped by the past and tradition while being very much a modern woman. In the capital, now calling herself Amira, she gets a room in a house owned by a forward-thinking girl Lobna. They venture out on the town – not a head covering in sight – and enjoy themselves with two friends Rafik and Khaled. These scenes are set to a tranquil score in contrast to a street fight which Aïcha tries to break up, introducing us to another of Lobna’s friends. But they’re a fiery crowd and violence and danger is never far from the equation.
Being at the wrong place at the wrong time Aïcha later finds herself in police custody, wearing a brief red dress and without her identity papers, bringing us starkly back to reality of this paternalistic society. Once again Aïcha’s sheer grit comes into play as this haunting social drama rapidly morphs into a noirish police thriller, Barsoui handling the subtle tonal shift with dexterity in this brilliant follow-up to his award-winning debut feature A Son. Aïcha is screening at this year’s Venice Film Festival in the Horizons sidebar. @MeredithTaylor
VENICE FILM FESTIVAL 2024 | HORIZONS 2024