Arab Blues

Year: 2019

Duration: 88 min

When you visit the beauty Parlour or Hammam, you also talk about your problems, allowing you to leave with a sense of emotional investment as well as some physical improvement. That's the kind of practical therapy this working-class suburb of Tunis appreciates. Hence their baffled resistance to enigmatic, Paris-raised outsider Selma when she tries to establish her psychoanalysis practice. With people still reeling from the country's turbulent 2011 revolution, some believe there's been more than enough recent self-help interventions. Writer-director Manele Labidi's debut feature is a wry, slyly effective satire of entrenched socio-political traditions. Iranian star Golshifteh Farahani is a subtly magnetic lead, ably backed by a colorful supporting cast of predominantly female allies and antagonists.—London Film Festival

Genre: Action   Comedy   Drama