Faintly Resnaisian memory film from Tunisia: an eve-of-abortion revisitation of the heroine's childhood home and the site of her mother's sexual subjugation to the local pooh-bah. (Right-to-Lifers can relax: the visit changes the woman's mind, and the curtain line might even bring a feminist tear to the eye.) Now, Moufida Tlatli is no brainy strategist and tactician like Resnais. In her directorial debut, she is still something of a cautious crawler. But she imbues her work with a quiet fury and blazing tenderness, and a blessed freedom from rhetorical bombast. And the movie is continuously eye-opening about the culture. The patterned tiles, the textiles, the carpets, the basketry, the lutes, etc., provide plenty of sustenance for the gaping orb. With Ghalia Lacroix, Hend Sabri, Amel Hedhili. (1994) — Duncan Shepherd
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