This moving quest for identity delicately evokes the relationship between one’s country of origin and one’s host country, as well as the questions of family identity, integration and freedom of artistic expression.

For thirty years, French-Algerian sisters Zorah (Isabelle Adjani, Camille Claudel, Queen Margot), Nohra (Maïwenn, Polisse) and Djamila (Hafsia Herzi) have been living in the hope of finding their brother Rheda, abducted by their father, and hidden in newly decolonized Algeria.

Their relationship is shaken when Zorah, the eldest sister, decides to write a play based on the traumatizing events of their childhood that has troubled them for their entire lives. But when they learn that their father is very ill, the three sisters decide to go to Algeria to seize their last opportunity to have him reveal to them the location of their brother. When the past catches up, the three sisters have no choice but to put their differences aside, as it is a race against time in an Algeria where the wind of revolution is rising.

Sisters is a beautifully filmed story with powerful performances, and this moving quest for identity delicately evokes the relationship between one’s country of origin and one’s host country, as well as the questions of family identity, integration and freedom of artistic expression. Asked about the choice of the title, the filmmaker Yamina Benguigui explains:

“These are three women who have each traced their own path but whom the past summons as sisters to face a tragedy that can only be resolved with the family. This visceral link which tears us away from our individual history, this link which brings us back to our common history.”

Screened in French with English subtitles.

Yamina Benguigui |  France/Algeria |  2020  |  90 minutes