Moroccan Film Explores Mental Health and Women’s Struggles in ’Pavilion J’

"The Women of Pavilion J", the second feature film by Moroccan filmmaker Mohamed Nadif, is an incursion into the daily life of three residents of a psychiatric pavilion in Casablanca, Amal, Ibtissam and Rim, and their nurse and accomplice Halima, who is just as fragile. The film is a caricature of the place of women in Moroccan society, especially those who are oppressed, defenseless, tested by social barriers and the multiplicity of aggressions they suffer. And the four actresses called upon by the filmmaker have played their role to perfection. In an interview with franceinfo Afrique, Mohamed Nadif discussed the reasons that led him to place his camera in a psychiatric pavilion dedicated to women.

The filmmaker explains that it all started with a visit to an acquaintance interned in this psychiatric hospital. He went there accompanied by his wife Assma El Adrami, co-screenwriter of the film and also an actress. From that moment on, he understood that it is a world apart with its own realities. This is how he documented the different mental illnesses, and decided with his wife to start from this particular place to tell the stories of women, to make their portraits and through their stories, to evoke the condition of women in Morocco.

Amal, Ibtissam and Rim are fortunate to have at their disposal a nurse who has become, by the force of the resemblance of their misfortunes, a friend on whom they rely to get out of it. "The role of Amal, played by co-screenwriter Assma El Hadrami, was decided during the writing of the film. For Jalila Talemsi, who plays the nurse, I had collaborated with her on the film Nomades (2019) as a co-producer. She played the lead role and the way she worked seduced me. Imane Mechrafi, who plays Ibtissam, was selected after auditions."

The biggest revelation of this film is the actress Rim Fethi. "She has the same first name as her character in the film by pure coincidence. She came to the auditions with the boyish haircut she has in the film. She had asked me to tell her about her character and I had told her that she had the look of a tomboy. I found very strong what she had done for the auditions. Rim Fethi was great and during the filming, she was carried away by the other actresses who are a little more experienced than her."

The heroines of Pavilion J represent several generations of women marked by various dramas such as sexual abuse, physical violence, and many other painful experiences. Moreover, the film highlights the importance of consulting a specialist when one feels mentally broken like these four actresses of Pavilion J. "Going to a psychologist is a recent phenomenon in Morocco, even for depression. For people, when we talk about a psychologist, it means you’re crazy, while many people are depressed but don’t know it."