Presented in the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival, “Les Filles d’Olffa” offers a captivating and therapeutic cinematographic experience. This film explores the story of a courageous mother and her daughters, approaching the themes of justice, resilience and family love, while highlighting the complex realities of Tunisian society.
Since it was announced in the official feature film selection at the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Olffa’s girlsdirected by Kaouther Ben Hania is awaited impatiently and pride by all Tunisians. First of all because that this is the first selection of a Tunisian film in official competition since 1970then because this young director has the gift of surprising each time. Besides, what will be his proposal this time?
In reality, Olffa’s girls is a difficult work to categorically define. Is it a documentary? Is it fiction? Is it a making-of? The film is a successful fusion of all these elements, a real hybrid that mixes genres with brilliance.
With Olffa’s girlsKaouther Ben Hania continues to explore new cinematographic forms, showing an audacity and an unparalleled originality. His work of architecture in the construction of his films gives him a place of choice both at national and international level. Once again, she proves to us that she is a talented director, capable of posting the limits of cinema and creating captivating and unique works.
Since his beginnings, Kaouther Ben Hania has not stopped experimenting with new structures in his films. False documentary with The Challat of Tunis (ACID 2013 selection), to false fiction with Zeineb doesn’t like snow (Tanit d’or at JCC 2016)passing through the nine chapters in sequence plans of Beauty and pack (A certain look 2017), she has always sought to push the limits of cinema. Its singular aesthetic in The man who sold his skinrecalling paintings of painting, certainly contributed to a nomination for the Oscar for best international film in 2021.
With such a remarkable filmography, expectations around its new projects are high, the challenges to be increasingly large. However, once again, Kaouther Ben Hania managed to surprise with Olffa’s girls. As mentioned earlier, this film immerses us in a story that is difficult to define, mixing documentary, fiction and making-of. It offers both an authentic story of the life of Olfa and its four daughters and therapy for them, as well as intense cinematographic experience for all spectators and even for confirmed actors such as Hend Sabry And Majd Mastoura, who had the courage to participate.
This adventure began in 2016, when Kaouther Ben Hania was captivated by the way Olfa told his story on the radio. Her way of expressing her thoughts and emotions marked the director, who immediately perceived an interesting cinematographic character in her. She decided to contact her with the intention of making a documentary on her story. However, once the shooting started, the director felt the need to rethink the initial format of the film. This is how the project has evolved towards a hybrid form, where the boundaries between genres began to fade. “”I had an interesting character and I didn’t want Olfa to tell. In addition often my actors, on the shootings ask me for the motivations of the characters, there the actors could directly ask. I also needed actors to ask the questions and I wanted to revisit the memory of Olfa and his daughters and understand what happened “Said the director.
From the first images of the film, Kaouther Ben Hania explains her approach. She wishes to tell a true story, that of Olfa and her two missing daughters, “eaten by the wolf”, while filling the void left by their absence. Two professional actors slip into their roles, bringing a new dimension to history. To support Olffa and replace it occasionally, Hend Sabry, is also part of the cast. In reality, the three actresses are present not only to embody roles, but also to help, be a mirror and even a conscience, for Olfa and his daughters. This structure has surely contributed to making the film unique and interesting. Not only does it make it possible to make the history of this family more captivating, but it also allows a reflection and a questioning, by allowing the protagonists to see themselves from the “outside”.
Throughout the film, we meet this family and we enter their privacy through anecdotes, confidences and reconstructions. We discover the tragic history of a strong woman, carrying a certain violence, but also of a deep love for her daughters. It aspires to raise them properly, but it fails. It embodies the contradictions of Tunisian Arab-Muslim society, which has failed to get rid of its conservatism and its superstitions to adapt fully to the current world. We also discover a family bruised by the disappearance of two of their older daughters, Rahma and Ghofrane.
Deeply Tunisian, Olffa’s girls is a film that explores the complex realities of Tunisian society, highlighting individual and collective trauma, as well as personal and societal struggles.
For example, Olfa, the central character of the film, who has always been suspicious of men, trying to protect his daughters from them, reproducing all the prohibitions related to the body and “modesty” declares, when she was in love and happy, having made her revolution by getting rid of certain conservative ideas. Paradoxically to these ideas, she brings her lover Wissem to her, and lodges him at home. He takes advantage of the situation and abuses girls. A particularly moving scene shows one of the young girls telling how the lover of his mother abused her, but she forgives him because he was a paternal figure for her. What suffering is released from this scene !! This young girl forgives her rapist, just because he knew how to replace the absent father for her. It’s amazing!
Olffa’s girls Also addresses the question of Tunisian youth in search of benchmarks and a future. We see young people following different movements, without really knowing what it will bring them. The film allows you to better understand Tunisian society and the choices of certain individuals. It sheds light on how some can be fooled or confused.
The film is trying to understand why these two young girls were able to be indoctrinated and leaving like this. Through their history, it may offer an explanation for all these young men and young girls who suddenly leave without warning. He invites to a deep reflection on the motivations and influences that lead to such decisions.
Listening to these young people, giving them the floor, is a central element of the film which questions the point of view of all the characters, highlighting their flaws and their contradictions in a magnificent way.
Kaouther Ben Hania offers a powerful and captivating work, where the boundaries between reality and fiction fade to better plunge the spectator into a deep reflection on the universal themes of family, love and resilience.
Combining documentary, fiction and therapy, it is legitimate to wonder what part of the film is real and what part is written. The difference in relation to a classic documentary lies in the presence of the real protagonists who tell, direct and advise the actors. Without forgetting that there is a real interaction between them, adding a dimension of authenticity and truth to the whole. In addition, actresses, especially Hend Sabry often ask questions, or make comments, which allow Olfa and his daughters to question themselves, to see things from a different angle.
This mother’s decision to deliver her family, sometimes with intimate details, to the public raises another legitimate question: why does she do it? Why is it unveiled like this? During the press conference which succeeded the projection, she replied by saying that she does it to defend a cause. As a grandmother of an eight-year-old girl, imprisoned in a foreign country, she appeals to all human rights NGOs and all activists committed to act in favor of these children who should not pay for the acts of their parents. She also hopes that her daughters and all those who left with them will be repatriated to Tunisia and that they can benefit from fair trial.
This mother uses the power of cinema to raise public awareness of a difficult and unfair situation, by revealing her story and that of her family. Its objective is to draw attention to the children trapped in conflicts which exceed them, pleading for their right to fair justice. His act of courage and vulnerability before the camera aims to arouse concrete action on the part of human rights organizations and committed activists. She hopes that their history will affect hearts and consciences, thus encouraging spectators and actors of the international scene to take measures to protect the rights of these children and promote their return to their country of origin.
Olffa’s girls Transcends the limits of a simple film to become a cry of the heart, a call for help and a fervent desire to cause change. This powerful work pushes Tunisian society, individual and collective choices, while offering emotional exploration and a deeper understanding of the realities experienced by these young people.
Is it that Olffa’s girls will be able to conquer The jury chaired by Ruben Östlundreputed itself for its audacity and its original cinematographic constructions? Hope is in order, not only for this particular film, but also for all of Tunisian cinema.
Neïla Driss
