The Rif Lover (L'amante du Rif)

A Jbila Mediterranee Prods., CCM, Tarantula, 2M Soread, SNRI, Urban Factory, Mollywood production. (Worldwide sales: Urban Distribution Intl., Montreuil, France.) Produced by Narjiss Nejjar, Lamia Chraibi, Ernest Rouschop, Valerie Bournonville, Frederic Corvez, Clement Duboin. Directed, put together by Narjiss Nejjar.With: Nadia Kounda, Mourade Zeguendi, Ouidad Elma, Nadia Niazi, Fehd Benchemsi, Omar Lotfi, Siham Assif, Raouia, Narjiss Nejjar. (Arabic, French dialogue)Seductively riffing on Bizet's "Carmen," "The Rif Lover" can be a bold, visually ravishing drama about l'amour fou as well as the taboo that patriarchal culture places on women's physiques and desires. Moroccan helmer-author Narjiss Nejjar ("Cry Forget AboutInch) once again styles a effective feminist statement which will be perceived by some as over-the-top. Nevertheless the beauty and in the filmmaking -- as well as the female thesps -- go a extended way toward having to pay for narrative wobbles and melodramatic excesses. Further fest exposure can be a given, while nudity and fraught sexual situations may well be more acceptable to Euro shops instead of Moroccan ones. Inspired having a tragic incident that befell an connect of Nejjar's relatives, the pic is essentially a cri p coeur that strongly indicts a culture that muzzles female desire by labeling it impure, and translates a lady's virginity with recognition. Impetuous, sexy 20-year-old Aya (Nadia Kounda) lives inside a small seaside village inside the attractive Rif Cordillera along with her mother (Nadia Niazi) and a pair of brothers and sisters, Ahed (Fehd Benchemsi) and Hafid (Omar Lotfi). While her never-seen father labors just like a fisherman in the united states, her brothers and sisters choose simpler although less honest be employed in the employ from the hashish trafficker, "the Baron" (Mourade Zeguendi, a smoldering presence). Aya and nearest friend Raida (Ouidad Elma) spend their days romping using the burg's maze-like streets in revealing attire, sunning by themselves the beach and relaxing on top of the connecting up houses while desiring romance to clean them off their foot. Aya fetishizes the Carlos Saura film "Carmen" and craves the heroine's sexual energy and sensual ease. When Aya's brother Ahed independently pimps her for the Baron, wanting to get their own cannabis area as a swap, he begins motion a dangerous game through which Aya becomes a pawn. Raising the question of whether a young lady trained on naive notions of romance can control her future, Nejjar allows her tragic heroine to narrate her tale in the sadder but wiser perspective. An beneficial, color-desaturated opening sequence finds Aya directly addressing the digital camera, watching, "I gave inside a love song." Beneath the dazzling great factor concerning the section unfolding inside the Rif, enclosed spaces hint at females' inadequate freedom while blood stream-red-colored-colored colors metaphorically repetition the stain playing a bride's broken hymen. The fluid camerawork makes all this a more compact amount heavy-handed laptop or computer sounds. However, things do bog lower within a lengthy -- and overheated -- episode occur a women's prison that could match any Roger Corman babes-in-the-large-house genre production. Despite the fact that some pic's dialogue is taken away as over ripe, Aya's mother will find some good lines. Tech credits are stellar, with lenser Maxime Alexandre's gorgeous widescreen plans, Tal Haddad's twinkling score and Julien Foure and Jacques Comets' evocative jump-cut editing particularly worth mention.Camera (color, DV-to-35mm, widescreen), Maxime Alexandre editors, Julien Foure, Jacques Comets music, Tal Haddad art company company directors Laurie Colson, Aurore Benoit costume designer, Nezha Bakil appear (Dolby Digital), Benjamin Falsimagne. Taoufik Mikraz, Patrice Mendez. Examined at Dubai Film Festival (competing), 12 ,. 8, 2011. Running time: 91 MIN. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com