Four Daughters (The Films of Kaouther Ben Hania)

Four Daughters

Banat Olfa Tunisie-France 2023 | Kaouther Ben Hania | vostEN | 107' | digital | docu-fiction | Cast : Olfa Hamrouni, Hend Sabri, Eya Chikhaoui, Tayssir Chikhaoui, Nour Karoui, Ichraq Matar | 12+

► Best Documentary Feature nominee, Oscars 2024 ; Meilleur documentaire, Festival de Cannes 2023

Olfa is the mother of four daughters in Tunisia. Her two older daughters, after becoming radicalised, leave the family to join Daesh fighters in Libya. The film features Olfa and her two remaining daughters, who retell their own story along actors standing in for the sisters and the various men in their lives.

« A compelling portrait of five women and a unique and ambitious work of nonfiction cinema that explores the nature of memory, the weight of inherited trauma, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters. » (Rotten Tomatoes)

« The poignancy of the movie’s formal conceit is that, by stepping into their roles, Matar and Karoui embody both a consoling presence and a devastating absence. Watching the two actors grow in confidence, laughing and joking alongside their on-screen mother and sisters, you could almost believe that you were watching a happily reunited family. But the illusion continually breaks. Indeed, this is a heartbreaker about mothers and daughters, the cruelty of repression and the slippery but revealing nature of performance. » (Los Angeles Times)

« We see the power in tying together the fake and the real — the moment when method acting turns into method remembering. » (Washington Post)

Org.: Cinémathèque.