Women's Wiles


Women's Wiles
Directed byFarida Benlyazid
Written byFarida Benlyazid
Based onMoroccan legend "La fille au basilic"
Produced byHassan Daldoul, Farida Benlyazid
StarringSamira Akariou, Rachid El Ouali, Fatma Bensaidane
CinematographySerge Palatsi
Edited byKahéna Attia
Music byMohamed Cherraf, Fawzi Thabet
Production
companies
  • Tingitania Films (Morocco)
  • Waka Films (Switzerland)
  • Touza Productions (Tunisia)
  • Céphéide Productions (France)
Release date
  • 1999 (1999)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryMorocco
LanguageMoroccan Arabic

Women's Wiles (Moroccan Arabic: Keid Ensa, French: Ruses de femmes) is a 1999 film directed by Farida Belyazid.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] The film was screened at multiple Moroccan film festivals[10] as well as the Beirut Film Festival[11] and the Berlin International Film Festival.[12][13]

Background

The film is based on a Andalusian folk tale "La fille au basilic".[14] The Arabic expression keid ensa means "the cleverness of women" and also appears in a Federico GarcÌa Lorca play.[15]

Generations of women have told this story to their daughters. I also heard it as a little girl. In this film the world of the imagination offers women a plethora of possiblities which are usually suppressed by the traditions of a male-dominated society. There is a prince as in all fairytales but this time the girl is not the object of his capriciousness. Instead, she uses her intelligence like a weapon throughout the film and remains in control of the situation... Since I was free to choose the costumes and the set for this film, a lot of visual possibilities were at my disposal. Also, the different characters change during the course of the film and this allowed the actors a great diversity in their performance. Farida Benlyazid[13]

Synopsis

Lalla Aïcha is the daughter of a rich merchant. Orphaned by her mother, she has always been spoiled by her nurse, Dada, which has made her a capricious young woman. One day, on her terrace, while watering her basil, she meets the sultan's son. He falls in love at first sight but cannot admit that women are as intelligent as men. Lalla Aïcha then undertakes to prove him wrong. But the prince, after marrying her, decides to teach her a lesson by locking her up in his cellar for three years.[16][17]

Cast

  • Samira Akariou (Lalla Aïcha)
  • Rachid El Ouali (Le prince)
  • Fatma Bensaidane (Dada Mbarka)
  • Abderrahim Bayga (Bilal)
  • Amina Alaoui (Lalla Mina)
  • Hammadi Amor (Haj Madani)
  • Mohamed Razine (Haj Tahar) ;
  • Amina Rachid (La Femme de Haj Tahar)
  • Abdelkébir Chedati (Karkour)
  • Saâdia Azgoun (Laâziza)

References

  1. ^ "FILMEXPORT.MA - long métrage, Keid Ensa". FILMEXPORT.MA. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  2. ^ "Africiné - Ruses de femmes (Kaïd Ensa)". Africiné (in French). Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  3. ^ Women's Wiles, retrieved 2021-11-15
  4. ^ Akariou, Samira; El Ouali, Rachid El; Bensaidane, Fatma; Bayga, Abderrahim; Alaoui, Amina; Amor, Hammadi; Razine, Mohamed; Rachid, Amina; Chedati, Abdelkebir (1999), Keid ensa = Women's wiles, Bruxelles, Belgium: World Sales [distributor], OCLC 53353472, retrieved 2021-11-15
  5. ^ Bourget, Carine (2012). ""Kaidakunna 'adhimoun" Revisited: Farida Benlyazid's "Ruses de femmes" and Assia Djebar's "La beauté de Joseph"". The French Review. 86 (1): 147–159. ISSN 0016-111X. JSTOR 41710480.
  6. ^ "KEID ENSA (1999)". BFI. Archived from the original on November 15, 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  7. ^ Armes, Roy (2008). Dictionary of African Filmmakers. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-35116-6.
  8. ^ Les cinémas d'Afrique: dictionnaire (in French). KARTHALA Editions. 2000-01-01. ISBN 978-2-84586-060-5.
  9. ^ Brière, Jean-François (2008-01-01). Dictionnaire des cinéastes africains de long métrage (in French). KARTHALA Editions. ISBN 978-2-8111-4250-6.
  10. ^ "editonat7". www.ccm.ma. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  11. ^ "Keid Ensa". Beirut International Film Festival. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  12. ^ "Keid ensa | Women's Wiles | Die List der Frauen". www.berlinale.de. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  13. ^ a b "Keid Ensa". www.arsenal-berlin.de. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  14. ^ Lebbady, H. (2009-09-28). Feminist Traditions in Andalusi-Moroccan Oral Narratives. Springer. ISBN 978-0-230-10073-2.
  15. ^ Martin, Florence (2011-10-13). Screens and Veils: Maghrebi Women's Cinema. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-00565-6.
  16. ^ Young, Deborah (1999-08-30). "Women's Wiles". Variety. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  17. ^ Armes, Roy (2005). Postcolonial Images: Studies in North African Film. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-21744-8.