12/09/2023 - Nora El Hourch’s film is a direct yet subtle and effective film about a wonderful friendship undermined by the paradoxes of the fight against sexual violence and by social differences

Leah Aubert, Salma Takaline and Médina Diarra in Sisterhood

"We’re living through a revolution, there are always going to be risks". Good intentions are often to be admired, but their consequences usually depend on the position we occupy in society. It’s an injustice which poses a problem for whistleblowers looking to denounce sexual assault, for example, as is the case in the impetuous movie Sisterhood [+see also:
trailer
interview: Nora El Hourch
film profile], which is French-Moroccan director Nora El Hourch’s first feature film and which was unveiled in the 48th Toronto Film Festival’s Platform competition. And it’s even more complicated when friendships come into play.

Our protagonists are three childhood friends, bound together as tightly as 15 years old can be, fiery, boastful, unapologetic, affectionate and ready to grab the future with both hands, buoyed by their residual naive energy, their on-trend trainers and their solid, united resistance to the fierce atmosphere pervading their high school in the Parisian suburbs. But they’re not all on the same page, because Amina (Leah Aubert) lives with her surgeon father (Mounir Margoum) and lawyer mother (Bérénice Bejo) in a quiet and comfortable residential area, while Djeneba (Médina Diarra) and Zineb (Salma Takaline) live on a "disadvantaged" social housing estate where boys try to impose their rule and exert pressure. And when a young "bad boy" (whose older brother is a local “boss”) forces himself onto Zineb without stopping to think about consent, Amina catches him on camera and uploads the footage onto social media via the account Sisterhood. It’s an impulsive act carried out in good faith which swiftly proves incredibly dangerous ("you filmed it up to what point? You’re dead"), not least because, in the heat of the action, Zach (Oscar El Hafiane) can be heard talking about some of his brother’s more reprehensible acts. It tears the trio of friends apart, as Amina’s parents remove their daughter from the high school and place her in private education while Djeneba and Zineb are left in the firing line…

A far cry away from “traditional” films about the Parisian suburbs, despite first appearances, though no less dynamic in its portrayal of these youngsters, Sisterhood takes small, accumulated steps to explore some very serious societal subjects, namely the complexities that come with straddling two cultures, the impact of differences between social classes ("she’s using our misery to create a buzz"), the dangerous power of social media, the grey zone of consent and the thorny question of proof when it comes to sexual assault, to name a few. The film sees Nora El Hourch rolling up her sleeves and taking the temperature of a generation whose apparent tempestuous simplicity masks all manner of nuances. But her work is also a wonderful tribute to friendship as a vector for moving beyond structural or short-term disagreements and disharmony. Showcasing enthusiasm for a common future from a female angle, this highly engaging film owes much to its three main actors, as well as to the director’s intelligent, well-channelled passion, making El Hourch one to watch.

Sisterhood is produced by Manny Films in co-production with Morocco’s La Prod, and is sold by Memento International.

(Translated from French)