Over fifteen years have passed since Nabil Ben Yadir’s debut feature film, Les Barons [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], was presented to maximum excitement in the opening slot of the Namur International Francophone Film Festival. The Brussels-based director took everyone by surprise back then. He wasn’t part of the film set, so to speak, and he hadn’t been to film school. He’d just rocked up with a mad, burning desire to make movies and with a level of talent and creativity which demanded respect. Following the trials and tribulations of a young kid from a local neighbourhood – Molenbeek, to be precise – and his group of friends, the film oozes both poetry and comedy in equal measure, pulling apart stereotypes in the process.

Having previously directed three features exploring a range of genres (the socio-historical movie, by way of La Marche [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], the noir thriller via Blind Spot [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], and the firebrand film thanks to Animals [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]), the filmmaker is back with The Baronesses, a new group-based film which catapults heroines who are usually absent from cinemas directly onto the big screen: the mums or daronnes of Maghrebi descent who you meet on a daily basis on the streets of Molenbeek. In this sense, it’s more of a variation on Les Barons than a sequel. We’re treated to the same décor - or the same neighbourhood, at least - and the same tone hovering between poetry and comedy, and the same reflection on the place of minoritised populations in society, which basically makes The Baronesses some sort of malicious spin-off, originating in the mind of the director’s own mother, Mokhtaria Badaoui, who co-wrote and co-directed the movie.

Fittingly, The Baronesses is a film about family, both in front of and behind the cameras. Specifically, the family of Fatima, a daronne in the prime of her life (i.e. over 60 years old), who dotes on her husband and those around her. But while patiently awaiting the return of her beloved husband, who’s headed off to sort out a few technical issues in their future home which they’re building back in the Maghreb, Fatima finds out that he’s actually leading a double life over there with his second wife – who’s obviously younger than Fatima. Encouraged by her friends, Fatima decides to rediscover her spark and to finally fulfil a dream she’d abandoned when she married: to put on a play of Hamlet. Fatima and her now theatrical troupe subsequently find themselves the unwitting protagonists of a production beyond their capacities.

The film’s lead character takes a little time to savour her new freedom. But Ben Yadir and Badaoui seems to have thrown themselves heart and soul into bringing about their protagonist’s belated emancipation, for which the theatre is the real driver. They take all kinds of mise en scene liberties, leaning into drama, surrealism and absurdity. But, from the outset, the film posits itself as a tale and imagination - both that of the characters and of the film’s authors - reigns supreme. Carried by a cast composed of the seasoned and eternally flawless Saadia Bentaïeb, together with her irresistible gang of baronesses comprising newcomers Rachida Bouganhem, Halima Amrani and Rachida Riahi, the movie delights with its vivacity and moves the audience with moments of suspended poetry, such as the symbolic dance which sees Fatima taking back control and rejecting her husband.

The Baronesses was produced by 10.80 films (Belgium), in co-production with Samsa Film (Luxembourg), A Team Productions (Belgium), Special Touch Studios (France) and Komoko (Belgium). Cinéart will distribute the film in Benelux, with a Belgian release date planned for 3 December.