Fatima (2015) - Foreign Film Friday

Number Rolled: 94

Movie Name/Year: Fatima (2015)

Tagline: None

Genre: Drama

Length: 78 minutes

Rating: TV-14

Production Companies: Istiqlal Films, Arte France Cinema, Rhone-Alpes Cinema, Possibles Media, Pyramide Productions, Arte France, Centre National de la Cinematographie (CNC), Fonds Images de la Diversite, Region Rhone-Alpes, Region Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur, Agence Nationale pour la Cohesion Sociale et l’Egalite des Chances (ACSE), Societe de Developpement des Entreprises Culturelles (SODEC), Telefilm Canada, Credit d’Impot pour la Production Cinematographique ou Magnetoscopique Canadienne, Filmoption International, Procirep, Quebec Credit d’Impot Cinema et Television

Producer: Remi Burah, Nadim Cheikhrouha, Philippe Faucon, Yasmina Nini-Faucon, Serge Noel, Hany Ouichou, Olivier Pere

Director: Philippe Faucon

Writer: Philippe Faucon, Aziza Boudjellal, Mustapha Kharmoudi, Yamina Nini-Faucon, Fatima Elayoubi

Actors: Soria Zeroual, Zita Hanrot, Kenza Noah Aiche, Chawki Amari, Dalila Bencherif, Edith Saulnier, Emir El Guerfi, Zakaria Ali-Mehidi, Sarah Lameche

Stunt Performer: Chloe Zobel

Blurb from Netflix: After emigrating from Algeria to France, single mother Fatima Elayoubi struggles against barriers of race and language to forge a writing career.

Selina’s Point of View:

I cannot stop yawning.

I was tired even before I started watching, now I’m having trouble even holding my eyes open.

I mean, there was a study scene that was nothing but someone whisper-reading a textbook. I hate that. It makes my ears feel like they’re trying to fly off my head so they don’t have to deal with it.

The story wasn’t bad, I understand the film is based on a memoir written by the real Fatima, but I just don’t think it translated to film well. At least not with this crew.

It was a rough film to watch. Not like last week’s, though. Nothing really tugged at my heart strings or triggered anything in me; in fact, it just felt like nothing was happening. Besides, last week’s film was really, really well made and this one just wasn’t.

That said, after the Top 20 Movies to Look Out for in May post on Monday, I’ll be away until the 9th. Cat will be continuing to post between those days. She’ll be catching up on reviews that happened before her time.

I’ll be back in action on the 10th.

Cat’s Point of View:

This movie exceeded my expectations. Normally, that would be a good thing – in this case, it is not. My expectation, based on the Netflix blurb, was that it was going to be one of those dramas that just wasn’t generally my cup of tea. I was right, there. The hour and nineteen minutes of this film felt like twice that.

I don’t have any complaints about the acting, and I followed along just fine. I could even empathize with the frustrations of the characters. Unfortunately, the way this story was framed made it about as interesting as a long-winded teacher giving a lecture in monotone on how grass grows.

The concept of the movie that was described wasn’t even clear through the majority of the film. It just meandered through bits and snatches of the lives of the mother and her daughters. Nothing really ever gave a clear story arc – it just felt a bit cobbled together.

It bugged me a little that the subtitles were over the movie and in white. They were in a bold typeface so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, though. But, it wasn’t the film’s biggest problem.

Sadly, the only reason I’m glad we watched this movie is because it’s now crossed off the list. I’m afraid this won’t be amongst my recommendations.

Languages

Speech Available: French

Subtitles Available: English

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 89%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 58%

Metascore - 69/100

Metacritic User Score – None

IMDB Score – 6.5/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 1.5/5

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 1.5/5

Movie Trailer: