Anonymes (2009)

Aicha, Radia and their mother live removed from the world in the underground servant's quarters of a deserted mansion. The precarious balance of their daily life is shaken by the arrival of... See full summary »

Director:

Raja Amari

Writer:

Raja Amari

Stars:

Hafsia Herzi, Sondos Belhassen, Wassila Dari

3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Hafsia Herzi	...	Aicha
Sondos Belhassen	...	Radia
Wassila Dari	...	La mere
Rim El Benna	...	Aelma
Dhafer L'Abidine	...	Ali (as Dhaffer L'Abidine)

Storyline

Aicha, Radia and their mother live removed from the world in the underground servant's quarters of a deserted mansion. The precarious balance of their daily life is shaken by the arrival of a young couple who move into the main house. A bizarre cohabitation settles between the couple and the three women who decide not to make their presence known to these unexpected neighbors. They cannot leave their hiding place as it conceals secrets buried for years. But Aicha, the youngest sister, is attracted by the newcomers.

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Plot Keywords:

couple | mansion | shoes | secret | f rated | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Sophie Dulac [France]

Country:

Tunisia Switzerland France

Language:

Arabic

Release Date:

19 May 2010 (France)

Also Known As:

Buried Secrets

Filming Locations:

Tunisia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nomadis Images, Akka Films, Les Films d'Ici

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Hidden Incest femlib tour de force/horror movie

Tunisian feminist graphic / Baby Jane type movie. 3 generations of women live in the servant's quarters of a deserted mansion. The owners pay a visit for a few days throwing a party. The woman visitor the owner? is captured when she gets too nosy and held captive. Where are the police her boyfriend??

The youngest girl turns out as the story develops to be the daughter of her sister by the sister's father so that is the secret these women are hiding.

You get to witness all the gratuitous twists and turns of feminist graphic realism of this young girls sexual interests as well as her sister masturbating with a sink...shaving her legs...voyeurism of the young couple...her grandmother checking her crotch for virginity all those meaningful liberated women topics that kind of turn your stomach to be honest.

When will they learn that realism doesn't equal art nor good story telling (usually the opposite) nor good movies? However it is probably guaranteed a prize at a film festival.

The mansion (digital creation) looks like a Russian orthodox church welded on top a house---with some South Pacific palm trees... I think the computer artist was trying to create something out of 1001 Arabian Nights. It resembled nothing remotely Tunisian I ever saw the and I lived there 5 years. The palm trees look like coconut not the date palms of N. Africa. The interior looks like a 20s Hollywood horror mansion. Why didn't they hire a Tunisian to do these computer graphics? All they got right were the olive groves.

These 3 women imprison the female who visits the mansion with her boyfriend...eventually killing her and burying her at the end. The young girl then smoothers her grandmother?/sister's mother and carves up her half sister/mother with a razor blade. Then walks down the streets of Tunis in a blood soaked nightgown with a prominent menstrual blood spot along with her sisters blood.

Being brutally honest this is why I avoid movies written or directed by women. They often seem to get carried away with gratuitous graphic sexuality and corporeal realism issues that are totally unnecessary.

The story had potential but not the way this was done plus it is kind of old hat...hidden incest etc... I watched it because I lived in Tunis but you get about 2 minutes of real street scenes and an hour and half of inaccurate fantasy digital backdrops in this femlib realism tour de force.

DO NOT RECOMMEND