Best known as an actor, Tunisian multihyphenate Dhafer L’Abidine presents his third directorial feature, Sophia, which follows the alleged kidnapping of the titular six-year-old girl in Tunisia. L’Abidine previously directed To My Son (2023) and Tomorrow (2021), both of which follow families tossed into chaos through the dynamics between parents and children of different ages. Sophia does likewise, except this time, it plays out primarily as a thriller on the streets of Tunis. The film – directed by, produced by, written by and starring L’Abidine – world-premiered as a Gala Screening at the 22nd Marrakech International Film Festival.

In the movie, we follow the disappearance of Sophia, brought from London to Tunis by her British mother, Emily (Jessica Brown Finlay), to meet Emily’s estranged husband, Hicham (L’Abidine). When the police begin to suspect Hicham himself for kidnapping Sophia – in light of having Sophia out of wedlock with Emily and then having been deported for staying illegally in the UK – Hicham goes on the run. As he maintains his innocence even with the supposed evidence against him, Emily searches for their daughter.

Sophia is driven more by conversations than by action scenes, many of which lack tension in their dramatic timing as Hicham escapes the police’s grasp again and again. The story only begins to develop after the halfway point, where Hicham believes he is being framed by the police chief. A rooftop chase briefly heightens the action, followed by our attention being refocused from Emily to Hicham, when he begins to take matters into his own hands. But when the film finally reveals the true kidnappers, the climax falls flat.

With the colour palette honed to be like in a traditional thriller, L’Abidine uses the idiosyncrasies of Tunis’s streets to keep the visuals interesting. However, with the nearly two-hour running time, the story is not nearly as interesting as it needs to be to hold the viewer’s attention, even though L’Abidine is a compelling lead with experience as a leading man – a shorter length might very quickly have tightened up the pacing and built tension. But as a director, he is clearly well-versed in the thriller genre from a technical standpoint, frequently using the camera at a distance to create a feeling of voyeurism.

Sophia is a production by Double A Productions (Tunisia) and New Sparta Productions (UK). MAD World holds the rights to its international sales.