Juman (2019) User Reviews

Starts off interesting bad ending

[laylafuus · 4/10 · 20 December 2020]

Glorifies and romanticized abusive relationships very toxic 👎🏽

Had potential but not fully accomplished

[linajemil · 5/10 · 10 February 2021]

I love Arab drama, I think they have leading stories but in this case the writer must have been a confused millennial because there were tones of modernity yet the outcome was more old-fashioned than the 1950's. I think the actress who played Juman did great and I'm lowkey obsessed with her, in real life she's so real, but the character Juman had all the potential to rid the story from gender injustices. No matter what the culture, domestic violence and have a husband who is bi-polar is not ok, so why have her divorce, become independent then marry him again then become a full-time housewife. It just doesn't have a consistent message.

Liked the first few episodes but lost interest midway

[poonamt-68796 · 5/10 · 8 January 2021]

The show revolves around 2 lead characters Jumaan and Hisham. They fall in love and get married even though their nature is opposite of each other. Hisham is a possessive and short tempered husband. He loves his wife but also tries to control her life and gets abusive when she won't listen to him. One would expect Hisham to learn by the end how to behave and respect Jumaan's choices. But they have shown Jumaan changing her ways as per Hisham wish and it was sad to see. They have glorified the domination of husbands.

Should falling in love mean you should change your entire personality?

[CriticallyUnimpressed · 1/10 · 21 December 2020]

Juman falls in love with Hisham. Right I mean all he does is follow her around and order her to wear less make up and dress decently. And because she is in love with him she listens Upon their marriage he just becomes more and more over bearing to the point he even beats her... And she leaves him. Because of his over bearing controlling ways. One of the focal points being, that he did not like her working outside. Because it meant other men would see her and he could not stand anyone else looking at her. All the while he willy dilly had a very cosy friendship with his female secretary. You would think in the end the conclusion would be Hisham growing up learning from his mistakes. And living unhappily ever after... I mean how does one take back their husband who beat them? Twice? Juman takes him back, quits her job and the most disappointing part is watching her say this life at home satisfies her. Showing her being showered by gifts by Hisham did not make it any better. Beating someone up and buying them a gift doesnt cover it up. Gosh the most unrealistic far fetched ending ever The only thing I enjoyed was the cute slightly awkward chemistry the leads had.

SICK

[lawyerbahzadm · 1/10 · 22 March 2021]

This tv show is sick, toxic and stupid on all scales.

Unrealistic physical characteristics

[lauraapaul · 13 January 2021]

I am of Middle Eastern descent. The characters were believable,however, all the plastic surgery and botox on the women were very distracting for me.I've never met a middle eastern woman who had a turned up nose or lips that were so plumped up with fillers.Our women are already beautiful without relying on plastic surgery or fillers.

Very romantic

[alshamari-marwa · 7/10 · 11 December 2020]

For an Arabic series and Kuwaiti which are usually just sad , this is nice romance yes they make women look like maids but it is nice i really enjoyed it

A first insight into Kuwaiti culture

[kelcarver-44627 · 2/10 · 15 December 2020]

I had zero expectations when I started watching the show as I had never watched any Kuwaiti soap before, so I came up with an open eye. I simply knew it the plot is based around a love story, but it was not enough to sustain the story line. I wish I had seen more character developments especially from the male characters which is almost inexistent. It seems the older generation in this show have happier marriages than the examples we can see from the younger generation. It makes the audience feel sad, angry and hopeless at times when we look at how the women and servants are treated in the show. Total male dominated world where women have little room for self development and such a wide gap and destinies between male and female individuals.

Family life

[gentlekind · 9/10 · 25 December 2020]

Set in Kuwaiti, this movie shed light on a culture of immeshed family relationships. Everyone realised their own strength, but always acknowledged God for outcomes. There was some domestic violence, but it ended with consequences delivered and non violence, respect and honor being the overall message. .

Drama

[tahiras-32008 · 6/10 · 14 March 2021]

Housewives of the middle east, feel sorry for these women, it seems like a true reflection of how husbands treat their wives and the battles between young women trying to be independent, career women but at the same time endeavouring to please their husband.

good drama very realistic. good watch

Plot Glorifies & Romanticizes Abuse

[RidingDunes · 1/10 · 5 January 2021]

This show's plot was preachy in nature. It can be best summed up with C.S. Lozie's words:

"Society's lack of empathy for women stems from being unable to separate pain from womanhood. Many consider pain to be the essence of womanhood, and insist that one cannot be female and not be willing to embrace and be defined by a lifetime of suffering."

While I'm shocked Netflix brought this show on their platform, it hurts to know that there are societies where this is normalized.

Perfect Example and a learn for a Family

[kapoorsalvatore · 10/10 · 16 March 2022]

Well this whole series is quite fast and relationships were easily deployed. But yes one thing we got to know from this series is how parents has to be Abdullah and Suad teaches us how we have to to flexible and sensitive with the issues and hatsoff to Juman what a patience. In the last when juman says I have to considered hisham also like aziz that was the best part of the relationship. This series teaches us a a lot how to behave In our day to day life..... All characters well portrayed specially Abdullah and Suad.

Decent watch but horrible ending

[asmashahid-00279 · 5/10 · 3 February 2021]

This drama was a decent watch at the start when I thought the toxic male characters would later be punished for their horrible behavior. It casually shows most male characters beating their wives and the wives making it seem like it's completely normal and going back to them.

Hated the ending in which Hisham and Juman get back together despite everything he pit her through. The most heartbreaking scene was when he rips up all her colourful scarves and forces her to put on black scarves instead. I thought Juman was a strong female character but to see her give up her career completely just to please Hisham was what really pissed me off. At least they should have shown that Hisham changed his ways at the end.

The only saving grace of this drama was the relationship between Fawaz and Huda which I enjoyed. And Juman's dad was the only gopd male character in the whole drama.

Extremely toxic

[mariyaazhar · 1/10 · 14 April 2021]

Extremely toxic and taught terrible lessons and contributes to normalize and encourage discrimination of women and patriarchy. As someone from a similar culture, this really hit home so I can say it's very realistic unfortunately. However the show tries to normalize this and it's very problematic. Painful to watch Terrible show; you can tell it's written by a male Arab and/or woman who has strongly internalized patriarchal values.

Long Story short don't bother watching this show.

[morayoadewusi · 1/10 · 8 January 2021]

This was frankly a very dumb show.(Ok now my rant begins) Let me just discuss the main relationship between Juman and Hisham. They saw each other once and became infatuated, which is understandable I suppose. But, the part that made absolutely no sense was how they fell in "love" simply based on awkwardly staring at each other when they ran into each other at school, him telling her not to wear too much makeup or colorful clothes and running around on the beach. What kind of love is that? They barely even knew each other and it was clearly based on attraction. Then they of course make this whole thing about how they have to get married by any means necessary and when they finally do, Hisham has an unrealistic jealousy problem like literally wants Juman to stay in her room and never leave because he and I quote "wants her all to himself". He forced her to wear a hijab and it had to be black because apparently a white hijab is too flashy and then made her quit her job cause she was training a man and of course whenever they argued he pushed her around, pure toddler behavior. Like it wasn't bad enough, the show glorifies toxic relationships and abuse by making the so called "elders" in the show normalize abuse and infidelity. Juman's mom believed that it is acceptable and normal for a husband to hit a wife and in fact in her opinion there is nothing at all a husband could do that should warrant a divorce because a divorce is the most horrible thing that could ever happen to a woman. And don't even get me started on Juman taking him back because she was having fond memories of him sprinkling rose petals on her face in the morning, like give me a break. There was nothing real about that relationship and love was the last thing involved. Overall this show was stupid and no one should waste their lives watching this, it's a load of crap. I'm so mad I ever clicked on it.

Treating their wives terribly

[valetta-18816 · 3/10 · 12 March 2021]

Can't believe how the Arab men treat their wives.

Juman should leave her jealous husband he certainly has changed

Juman

[sanaaijazz · 10/10 · 21 December 2020]

Great watch,loved the depth of every character. Good lessons to learn

Dysfunctional family in a toxic and misogynistic environment

[Frederieke96 · 5/10 · 9 December 2021]

I think the show is well made and produced overall, its interesting in the sense that it gives an interesting insight on life in Kuwait, albeit it is fictional, it is inevitably in some form a reflection of existing social institutions and cultural realities. The show follows a kind of dysfunctional (upper class) family, with Juman as the main character who marries her cousin, Hisham. This quickly turns into a toxic relationship, just like almost all the other relationships on the show honestly. Many characters are manipulative and they gaslight each other into thinking the other is wrong and crazy. Take Muhamad, Ruzan's husband who continuously cheats on her and manipulates her into thinking she is wrong and overreacting. Or overly controlling Hisham who completely loses it when Juman doesn't answer the phone while she is at work, and doesn't allow her to work with men in the same office. Or Munira who thinks her daughter should stay with her abusive wife-beating husband no matter what. The characters in the show take no accountability whatsoever for their toxic and misogynistic behaviour, the only reasonable rational characters on the show are Abdallah and Juman, which makes the show a bit more bearable to watch. It is telling that Ruzan had to cry several times when she found out her baby was a girl, because she feared and felt sorry for the miserable lives they will have to live as a woman in this misogynistic environment. The show would have been better if it had involved a bit more of those societal critiques in the show, instead of romanticising toxic masculinity and misogyny. Anyway, love the Kuwaiti accent.

Big Family, Big Plot and Very Big Questions.

[DAAP77 · 4/10 · 14 September 2023]

Have reached Episode 14. The Series began very well wih a good range of characters and a varied plot but it contains many things which are unpleasant. The escalation of aggressive behaviour from some of the men when questioned or disagreed with makes uncomfortable viewing. The bitterness of some of the characters towards others is unreasonable and hard to fathom. Some of the characters are very immature. The restriction of womens' lives is also distressing and the seeds of a controlling manipulative partner are on view. That said the drama does raise important issues and whether intentional or not provokes a questioning of parental control, marriage to relatives, attitudes & treatment of women, attitudes of entitlement because of wealth and how employees are treated. I wouldn't say I've enjoyed it and don't know if I will reach the finish.

Shows toxicity in relationships

[olajumokeajibola · 3/10 · 12 April 2022]

The movie was quite interesting in the beginning but as I watched showed great male dominance , relationship toxicity and female gender abuse. I dislike the fact that it portrayed women as people without strength and men as abusive beings.

Schizophrenic

[esparcadia · 5/10 · 4 July 2023]

What really grieved me was the way these Kuwaitis treat their maids cooks helpers each other etc. Horribly! Worse than slaves! I'm amazed that Netflix or the Kuwaiti producers of this junk revealed to the world their arrogance and inhuman behaviors. It really seems like just about everybody's on the verge of mass psychosis. The whole issue of families intertwined with uncles cousins marrying each other is frightful. They may think they're doing it right but the plot shows that matters go seriously wrong. Men demanding the right to cohabit with multiple wives is obscene and shows how males cannot control their passions. The society has institutionalized polygamy and everybody seems angry. Maybe Iraq was right to invade. Finally this series reveals a failed society and deeply disturbed humans ready to explode and a society that glorifies materialism and status over decency. Pluses. Fine performances by the leading cast members.