De ma fenêtre, sans maison...

First time director Maryanne Zehil talks about mother/daughter relationship.

Through the story, we see the evolution of the mother Sana, ( Louise Portal) and the daughter Dounia. Dialogues are sharp and explain what each one of them got through : Sana left Lebanon because she was suffocating, leaving behind her eight years old daughter. Dounia is searching for her mother who betrayed her when she promised to come back and never did.

That's what the film reveals first.

But what is much more interesting is what the image suggest while we follow, first Dounia to Lebanon were we meet the grand-mother, then Sana who discover again the past that she's trying hard to deny.

I payed attention to the scene when she meets the gardener.

Sana understands then, that her mother had a secret and that she lived suffocating by an impossible love and suffocating by the Lebanese culture.

It's with a lot of finesse that Maryanne Zehil presents (in my opinion), the true father of Sana, opening up a huge window on the past of all these mothers and daughters, on their silence and rebellion, being Lebanese or Quebecoises.

See this film for the inner journey that it provokes.

I went to see the film without expecting anything at all (I was invited at the avant-premiere). I like to encourage Lebanese filmmakers and I am curious to see what Lebanese directors have to say about their country and their people. I was even more curious since it is a Lebanese woman, who lives abroad on top of it!! And actually I was overwhelmed by this wonderful film. It is very nostalgic, in a very sensitive way... and the story is so brilliant like I haven't seen yet in our cinema. I was swept away with a lot of emotion (yes I did cry!) I wish all the best to this young writer, director and producer!! (She looks like a teenager, she was wearing a jeans with tennis shoes, which is very rare for a Lebanese woman, let me tell you!). Anyway, it was a real pleasure and I am looking forward to her next film!

This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!! This is a wonderful film, very touching and so true and authentic!!!

With a very low budget,the young director Maryanne Zehil, from Lebanese origin surely, presents her first feature. An ambiguous title who describes 3 women, 3 generations of different cultures, with many visits between Quebec and Lebanon, mother-daughter confrontations. This is the portrait of 2 cultures that meet, embrace, abandon each other with confrontation and meet again. When we are marked by a mother who abandoned us, we should liberate the tears of the past before being able to function again with serenity in the present and hope to love in the future. When I left the Parisien, I went searching for a specialized boutique to buy some Lebanese coffee.

Very good movie. A little bit slow at the beginning... different... the director shows us a very deceiving side of the Lebanese society but very true.It's enough to have an open mind to appreciate the message. I liked a lot Louise Portal who was able to be in the role of a Lebanese woman and a quebecoise woman... I liked mostly all the emotions it made me live. Very recommended film. Very good movie. A little bit slow at the beginning... different... the director shows us a very deceiving side of the Lebanese society but very true.It's enough to have an open mind to appreciate the message. I liked a lot Louise Portal who was able to be in the role of a Lebanese woman and a Canadian woman... I liked mostly all the emotions it made me live. Very recommended film.