Le Chant des mariées (2008)
Directed by Karin Albou

Film Synopsis

In 1942, Myriam and Nour are two 16-year-old girls who live in the same apartment block in Tunis.  Despite their cultural differences - one is a Jew, the other a Muslim - they are the best of friends and know that they can never be separated, no matter what life throws at them.  Nour is sad that she cannot go to school like her friend, and Myriam envies Nour because she is about to become engaged to her handsome cousin, Khaled.  Both girls are disappointed when the wedding is postponed until the prospective husband has found himself a respectable job.  The sudden arrival of the Nazis in the city is about to upset the lives of both girls, and in ways that are beyond their comprehension.

Because she is a Jew, Myriam's mother Tita is forbidden from working and she is soon overtaken by debts.  In the end, she has no other choice but to marry off her daughter to an older and far wealthier man, Raoul.  Appalled at the prospect of being married to a man she isn't remotely attracted to, Myriam pretends that she is not a virgin, but the deception gets her nowhere.  Meanwhile, now that Khaled has found employment by working for the occupying Germans, he is able to marry Nour.  Both swallow the lie put out by the Germans that, through the connivance of the French, the native Tunisians have been the victims of Jewish oppression for years.  As a result, Myriam and Nour's friendship appears to be well and only over...