Inch'Allah dimanche (2001)

Director:

Yamina Benguigui

Writer:

Yamina Benguigui (writer)

Release Date:

5 December 2001 (France)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

The story of an immigrant woman struggling against old world traditions. Zouina leaves her homeland...

Plot Keywords:

Mother In Law | Immigrant | French Algerian War | Husband Wife Relationship | Multicultural

Awards:

7 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Fejria Deliba	...	Zouina
Rabia Mokeddem	...	Aïcha, la mère
Amina Annabi	...	Malika
Anass Behri	...	Ali
Hamza Dubuih	...	Rachid
Zinedine Soualem	...	Ahmed
France Darry	...	Mme Donze, la voisine
Roger Dumas	...	Mr. Donze, le voisin
Marie-France Pisier	...	Melle Manant
Mathilde Seigner	...	Mademoiselle Briat
Jalil Lespert	...	Le chauffeur du bus
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alexandre Carrière	...	Le gendarme
Mohamed Fellag
Aude Thirion	...	L'épicière

Also Known As:

Inch'Allah Sunday (USA) (festival title)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

France | Algeria

Language:

French | Arabic

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | France:U | Australia:PG

Company:

ARP Sélection

Inch'Allah Dimanche is a crowd pleaser.

This one should be a real crowd pleaser. It's a women's film that evokes both laughter and tears. It's got a sympathetic Muslim protagonist, Zoina, who evolves into a feminist icon. The musical sound track is emotional dynamite, even though the lyrics are largely untranslated and may, one suspects, contain information that would illuminate the narrative. There are lots of fascinating cross-cultural devices. All this and a happy ending too. The only problem with Inch Allah Dimanche is that it's artistically spurious. The most glaring deficiency is character development. There is no explanation, for example, as to how this Algerian woman came to be such a cultural anomaly. We can see her growing anger and rebellion under the rain of abuse from her mother-in-law and husband, but where is the wellspring of prior experience? And, even more troublesome, how do we explain the sudden transformation of her heretofore stereotypical Arab husband in the final scene? Audiences, however, are likely love this film in spite of its obvious flaws.