A Son (2019)

11 year old Aziz needs a liver transplant after being seriously injured during a terrorist ambush while on holiday in 2011. At the hospital a family secret will be revealed.

Director:

Mehdi Barsaoui

Writer:

Mehdi Barsaoui (screenplay)

Stars:

Sami Bouajila, Najla Ben Abdallah, Youssef Khemiri

11 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sami Bouajila	...	Fares Ben Youssef
Najla Ben Abdallah	...	Meriem Ben Youssef
Youssef Khemiri
Noomen Hamda
Slah Msadek
Mohamed Ali Ben Jemaa
Qassine Rawane
Jihed Cherni
Nissaf Ben Hafsia	...	(as Nissaf Bel Hafsia)
Karim Kefi
Laroussi Zbidi
Rim Chalbi
Jamila Camara
Amor Jmal
Mabrouk Mahdhaoui

Storyline

When driving home from southern Tunisia, Fares and Meriem's car is hit by a stray bullet during an ambush by an armed group; their young son Aziz's liver is punctured. At a local hospital, the need for a transplant uncovers a secret that risks Aziz's life should a donor not be found in time. But this is only the beginning of the unexpected twists in a story so deftly crafted that it offers both a probing look at Tunisian society's anchored social and legal realities, and an unshakable need to ask yourself what you would do in the same situation. As their world falls apart, the subtleties of the couple's shifting emotions are handled masterfully, heralding Mehdi Barsaoui as a bold new talent to watch.

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Plot Keywords:

troubled family | father son relationship | mother son relationship | husband wife relationship | parents children relationship | 

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Genres:

Drama

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User Reviews

Solid film from a new voice in Arab cinema

If you enjoy Asghar farhadi's films, then this is the right film for you. The script follows exactly the method of an unfortunate accident causing turmoil and chaos in a seemingly healthy family and then things start becoming interesting, secrets deeply buried surface, old forgotten grudges start to poke and so on.

Even though it's a directorial debut of Mehdi Barsaoui, The film is really well made, there are some scenes that you would only expect from masters of filmmaking. Without trying to spoil any parts of the story, my only issue was that the film puts finger on so many conflicts, whether political, cultural or religion related in a rather short runtime (96 minutes) and the inevitable is that many ascepts, some really important ones, are left out or just briefly mentioned. I think this is caused by the ambitious mentality of the director as he tried do to score as high as possible. Yet still this is a good film from a new voice.

Details

Country:

Tunisia France Lebanon Qatar

Language:

Arabic French

Release Date:

11 March 2020 (France)

Also Known As:

Bik Eneich

Filming Locations:

Tataouine, Tunisia

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$457,404

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinétéléfilms, Dolce Vita Films, 13 Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1