Marrakech Film Festival: "daring" scenes spark controversy

The broadcast of this new film by Franco-Moroccan director Meryem Benm’Barek on Sunday evening provoked strong reactions. Discussions immediately focused on the choice to show sexual relations in a frontal manner. Journalists and spectators described these sequences as long and direct, using visual codes that go far beyond what is usually seen in Moroccan productions. The question was raised as to whether these images served the drama or if they were simply seeking to provoke.

Opinions are divided. Part of the audience felt that these scenes were gratuitous and did not contribute anything to the narrative or the characters. Others saw it as an attempt to break taboos about the body and to show the raw reality of love relationships. Despite these disagreements, the observation is the same: these passages took precedence over the rest of the work.

Behind this visual controversy, the substance of the story was received with less enthusiasm. The plot takes place in Tangier and follows Mehdi, a man who abandons his pregnant partner for a young, wealthy French woman, in the hope of leaving Morocco. Several critics noted that this theme of the migratory dream and difficult relationships is a very common subject in national cinema. They did not see any great artistic novelty, apart from these shocking scenes. This film received a grant of 4 million dirhams from the Moroccan Cinematographic Center.