Four Daughters (2023 film)

Four Daughters (2023 film)
Four Daughters is a 2023 Arabic-language documentary film directed by Kaouther Ben Hania. After two daughters of a Tunisian mother disappeared, the filmmaker invites professional actresses to compensate for the loss. The film is an international co-production between France, Tunisia, Germany and Saudi Arabia.
The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 19 May 2023. It was released in France on 5 July 2023. It was selected as the Tunisian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.
Premise
Tunisian Olfa is the mother of four daughters. One day her two older daughters disappear. To fill the void left, film director Kaouther Ben Hania invites professional actresses and brings the viewer closer to the life stories of Olfa and her daughters. The film mixes documentary and fiction.
Cast
Hend Sabri as Olfa
Olfa Hamrouni
Eya Chikahoui
Tayssir Chikhaoui
Nour Karoui as Rahma Chikhaoui
Ichraq Matar as Ghofrane Chikhaoui
Majd Mastoura
Background
Tunisian Olfa Hamrouni rose to international prominence in April 2016 when she publicized the radicalization of her two teenage daughters, Rahma and Ghofrane Chikhaoui. Both teenagers had left Tunisia to fight alongside the Islamic State (IS) in Libya. Hamrouni publicly criticized the Tunisian authorities for not preventing her daughter Rahma from leaving the country. After the arrest of the two women by Libyan forces, the authorities again did not react. Hamrouni is also said to have been prevented from leaving the country in order to look for her daughters in Libya on her own.
Production
The film is produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha at Paris-based Tanit Films; Habib Attia at Tunis-based Cinétéléfilms; Thanassis Karathanos and Martin Hampel at Berlin-based Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion GmbH; and co-produced by Red Sea Film Festival Foundation, ZDF/ARTE, and Jour2Fête.
Release
Four Daughters was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 19 May 2023. This is the second participation of a Tunisian production in the Cannes main competition since Abdellatif Ben Ammar's feature film A Simple Story in 1970. The film was theatrically released in France by Jour2Fête on 5 July 2023. It was also invited at the 28th Busan International Film Festival in 'Documentary Showcase' section and will be screened in October 2023.
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 94% based on 34 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Four Daughters unique approach to documenting real-life horror is a formal gamble that only underscores the bravery and resilience of its subjects." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 12 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Four Daughters received an average rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars on the French website AlloCiné, based on 28 reviews.
Awards and nominations
See also
List of submissions to the 96th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
List of Tunisian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
References
External links
2023 films
2023 documentary films
2020s Arabic-language films
French documentary films
German documentary films
Tunisian documentary films
Saudi Arabian documentary films