03/12/2024 - In Dania Reymond-Boughenou’s speculative debut feature, the weight of Algerian Civil War history cannot physically be held back in a community confronted by mysterious events

Spoken through voice-over late in Dania Reymond-Boughenou’s feature debut is the fleeting phrase: “You killed me, but I never died.” This quietly becomes the beating-heart theme of the film, Silent Storms [+see also:
interview: Dania Reymond-Boughenou
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After following through on a decade-long personal mission, fraught Algerian journalist Nacer (Khaled Benaissa) becomes transfixed by unexplained yellow dust that initially begins to cover areas near a seaside city like pollen. Several elderly men are convinced it is due to a curse on locales where violence occurred during the Black Decade, while an older woman claims to have been reunited with her late brother. On a rainy night, Nacer himself shockingly comes face to face with the corporeal, living form of his deceased wife Fajar (Camélia Jordana, who could attract commercial audiences who are also fans of her music), who says she is returning from a long trip to Canada. While dark tan clouds loom threateningly overhead, grief and wonder begin to mingle for the journalist, who knows his wife was actually killed unceremoniously by rebels at the age of 25.

Neither his editorial superiors nor the authorities show any concern for the peculiar sandstorms whose particles also gently sparkle like fairy dust, which seems to entrance his equally fraught doctor brother Yacine (Mehdi Ramdani). Although touching, secondary inclusions of Yacine’s connection with free-spirited student Shahrazad (Shirine Boutella, whom international audiences might recognise from Netflix's Lupin series) feel unnecessary, taking away from the intertwined stories of Nacer and Fajar.

The dialogue and script – by Reymond-Boughenou and Virginie Legeay in collaboration with Vincent Poymiro – are slightly confounding in this story that ultimately requires viewers to feel, rather than to rationalise. Nonetheless, the film is still more speculative than cryptic, where scenes with the dead don’t feel like a dream; they feel like real life. With editing by Julie Naas in collaboration with Damien Maestraggi, some shots end abruptly when the audience might crave a moment to linger with the film’s soberness and rich visuals, as if the movie were overly eager to get to the next scene.

The cinematography by Augustin Barbaroux casts the city in a deep-blue shadow, with contrasting orange lights creating a harsh glow on its tormented characters. Haunting ambient music by Dan Levy (I Lost My Body [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Jérémy Clapin
film profile]) plays fairly consistently through the film, occasionally ending up being emotionally overbearing. However, the director carves out a pleasant and often entrancing visual style especially when she begins to play with different ways of obscuring her characters – in rain, dust or through doors.

While the first half is focused on Nacer’s quest for truth, with a more conventional mystery-drama flair, the second half is devoted to Fajar’s unconventional ghost story that even takes a turn into disaster film. Silent Storms is most convincing in its latter part, when the director surrenders the film to its most magical and expressive, letting the lyricality of the story take over the visuals as well. Uniquely, those who have returned from the dead have agency, and their actions are not confined solely to the memories of those who survive them – an interesting conceit that is only briefly explored upon Fajar’s return. By the end, it’s still hard to say how much confronting is actually done in the film, but Silent Storms nonetheless emerges as a solid demonstration of Reymond-Boughenou’s directorial chops.

Silent Storms is a French-Belgian production staged by ChevalDeuxTrois and La Petite Prod, and co-produced by Hélicotronc and Les Films de l’autre Cougar. Best Friend Forever is steering its international sales.