Wedding Song

Le Chant des Mariees
Director: Karin Albou
France/Tunisia 2008 100 mins
Language: French with English subtitles

In an intimate Tunis courtyard there can be no secrets: especially between sixteen-year-old girls Nour and Myriam, inseparable best friends since childhood who share every hope and dream for the future. One is Muslim, the other Jewish; one is betrothed to her beloved, the other to a wealthy, older stranger. Despite the different paths their lives take, their fates seem bound together by an unbreakable bond. But the year is 1942, and the storm clouds of Nazi occupation threaten to shatter their dreams - and test their friendship to its very limits.

Between the hidden worlds of hammam and henna, Wedding Song is a richly sensual portrait of female bonds and sexual awakening in a traditional society on the verge of profound change. Following on from her award-winning debut Little Jerusalem, director Karen Albou evokes the disappearance of the delicate fabric of Jewish-Arab co-existence across North Africa with a beautifully assured touch. DB