Film Review
Having scored a palpable hit with his 2009 comedy
Le
Concert - a light-hearted look at the implications of
Stalinism - Romanian-born director Radu Mihaileanu champions the cause
of global feminism in his equally irreverent follow-up,
La Source des femmes.
Inspired partly by Aristophanes' war of the sexes comedy
Lysistrata and partly by a
real-life incident that took place in Turkey in 2001, the film follows
the fortunes of a group of women in a remote (unspecified) village in
the Middle East as they rebel against their men folk and demand a
better way of life in exchange for marital privileges. Coming in
the wake of the Arab Spring (note the pun), the film has the advantage of being highly
topical, but Mihaileanu's tendency to over-egg the pudding and resort
to well-worn clichés prevents him from saying anything particularly
profound or original.
On the plus side, the film is beautifully filmed, making effective use
of its stunning North African location, and features some highly
talented actresses, notably Hafsia Herzi and Leïla Bekhti, who had
previously distinguished themselves respectively in Abdel Kechiche's
La Graine et le mulet (2007)
and Hervé Mimran and Géraldine Nakache's
Tout ce qui brille (2010).
Mihaileanu's penchant for extracting humour from the unlikeliest
situations is also very much in evidence, although here the comedy
tends to work against the subject of the film and undermines the wider
social messages that are struggling to make themselves felt.
La Source des femmes is a film
that is easy to engage with and a well-meaning attempt to
arouse our concern for a subject of universal importance, namely the exploitation
and subjugation of women by the male sex. The problem is that it
is a satire without teeth and it leaves you feeling that it has failed
to say anything of any substance. Whilst it is entertaining and
does stir the conscience a little, the film is just to amiable and
mealy mouthed for its own good. Mihaileanu's reluctance to arouse
controversy is presumably what led him to set the film in the abstract,
to tell an obviously contrived tale in an unnamed location rather than
attach it to events in the real world (which is extraordinary given
that it is based on a real incident). As in each of his
previous films, Mihaileanu looks as if he is out of his depth or simply
lacks the courage of his convictions to tell a story with real
bite. Nonetheless, whatever shortcomings he may have as a serious
auteur, Mihaileanu knows how to win an audience and once again he
delivers a film that, whilst lacking in depth, is amply redeemed by its charm, humanity and
cinematic grandeur.
© James Travers 2012
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
For longer than anyone can remember, it has been the custom in one small
African village for the women to undertake a long and perilous journey up
into the mountains to fetch fresh water from a spring for their families.
In the sweltering heat, it is the most arduous of tasks, and recently the
women have begun to resent this ancient tradition. One woman in particular,
Leila, believes that the time has come for the women to rebel and force the
men-folk to share this burden with them.
Unfortunately, Leila is a comparative newcomer to the village and no one
takes her seriously - until an older woman, one who has great influence,
lends her support. The women all agree that they will refuse to sleep
with their husbands until they have won their cause. Leila's husband
Sami, the village schoolteacher, is sympathetic to the women's plight and
encourages them in their struggle. Others are far less willing to go
along with the women's fight for equality...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.