Three teenage girls, inseparable friends, struggle with the aftermath of a pivotal incident that brings to light their differences in race, social class, and cultural privilege, threatening their seemingly invincible bond.
Fifteen-year-olds Amina (Léah Aubert), Djeneba (Médina Diarra), and Zineb (Salma Takaline) have been inseparable since childhood. But their seemingly invincible bond is challenged by a pivotal incident that brings to light their differences in race, social class, and cultural privilege.
The three friends create a video in reaction to a predatory attack. But when Amina posts the video on social media, it impacts their friendship in a way she did not expect.
More affluent and white-passing than her friends, Amina questions whether she is being ostracized because of her privilege and lashes out at her father for his apparent denial of their Arabic heritage. She is torn between her own sense of justice and saving her friendship with Djeneba and Zineb, which ultimately gives meaning to who she is and her place in the world. Their friendship is the only place where she feels she truly belongs.
In this very impressive debut feature film, beautifully crafted and written by Nora El Hourch, nothing is simple or reductive. With memorable performances from the stellar cast, which also includes Bérénice Bejo (The Artist, The Hummingbird, TIFF ’22) and Mounir Margoum (Les cowboys, TIFF ’15), El Hourch has made a powerful and poignant film about and for a generation of young women growing up with #MeToo as their status quo. But that does not make their fight for agency any easier.
ANITA LEE
Official Selection, 2023 Toronto International Film Festival