Cigare au miel

This movie shows touching reality of how some muslim families stuck between west and east, tradition and modernity, your own happiness or society's approval. As a muslim girl who lived similar things like Selma in a similar, "modern" muslim family like hers, this movie showed my life to me like a mirror, maybe not a perfect piece but definitely worth to watch.

This movie somewhat depicts the life of girl who is torn between the Eastern and Western values. If it has to be taken by Islamic religion, the girl's consent must be taken for valid marriage. Here family is traditional secular and wishes their girl to have an established family with children, but on the other side there is a Western lifestyle with no family life based on freedom of enjoyment. Clearly, the family didn't educate the girl for traditional family life in time, then tried to force her to it. As being familiar with both East and West mindsets, I can say that if the family could be able to raise the girl according to their thinking, the girl would not have chosen the guy who is a man of free spirit. Except venerating Western lifestyle a bit, the movie is interesting and worth watching.

A very delicate way of approching serious matters such a emancipation, rape, machismo.

More than a historical panorama, the movie reflects Kamir Aïnouz's feelings, with poetry and delicacy.

The actors are really great, particularly Zoé Adjani and her parents (Lyes Salem and Amira Casar).

I'm looking forward to the next director's movie to see if the alchemy is still there.