Sadly Over-hyped

i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

The film was all right, but the soundtrack was so horrible that it ruined so many scenes. The whole string thing didn't make much sense, they could have skipped it, although it did show the progress that the character made throughout the movie. I thought that Malik's father's appearances were very odd at times, for example when he was talking to Malik's mother about his (Malik's) homosexuality. The ending was also very odd, since Malik and Bilal were together and Siryne and Leila were together, it didn't make much sense that Malik and Siryne got married. It would have made much more sense had they just been parents together, but nothing more. It wasn't like they were hiding their homosexuality, so the marriage didn't have any obvious reason.The acting was terrific, though. I loved Malik's mother, she was a wonderful character and Claudia Cardinale portrayed her wonderfully. I loved Malik and Bilal's relationship but, again, I don't understand why Malik had to get married. I also loved Siryne and Leila's relationship, it wasn't the most typical relationship, and I liked that. Siryne's father, even though he merely appeared in one small scene, was wonderful and very well portrayed.

Our hero returns home to his mother's house and must face issues that he was able to avoid by spending time away. Antonin Stahly-Vishwanadan is Malik, a gay man, who keeps running into Mom's servant Bilal, played by Salim Kechiouche. My complaint here is the music. It frequently doesn't reflect the correct mood of what's taking place in the scene. They use eerie violin music in much of the film, even when people are happy, or just driving down the country road. It might be helpful to match the music to the mood of the action or scene. Also, the bit about the string got annoying after a while, even if it IS the title and theme of the film. Don't want to give away spoilers here… we'll just say it all hits the fan, and there are secrets and family members to be faced, in an Islamic country yet. Written, directed, and even a minor role by Mehdi Ben Attia. Attia had only directed a short film prior to this, in 2000. Enjoyable film. Good story, excellent acting. Mostly good subtitles in the TLA version….even if they did skip some bits of the conversation here & there. It's a shame that they did not translate more of what is said in the church... would have been interesting to hear what was said.

For this film, directed and written by Mehdi Ben Attia does that very thing. It doesn't preach a message, it doesn't force people to sacrifice their lives or dignities. It just tells a story of two men who fall in love and live happily ever after. Why not? Why can't there be such films? My hat is off to those responsible for making this happen. Writers, director and a wonderful cast.And how wonderful to see Claudia Cardinale again. Still with those beautiful eyes and looking smashing as the mother of one of the boys who fall in love. She also gets to go through all the moments that most mothers go through in finding out their son is gay. Cardinale is terrific. As her gay son, Atonin Stahly, too, is wonderful. He didn't miss a beat in this. From the frustrated son coming home to dealing with a possessive mother to falling in love. As his love interest, Salim Kechiouche seems perfectly fitted for the role. A beautiful, sensitive young man bringing much passion into his role. At first you feel something is going to happen. Something will go wrong. This is too beautiful to last. As in most gay love stories, it usually does. But in this is doesn't. The ending is so beautiful and touching, you want to stand up and cheer. Thanks for a lovely romantic love story between two men.

This is actually a very good film. the plot-line is intelligent and interesting; it is well acted, directed, and filmed. Its major flaw is that, like most gay oriented films, the major characters are all beautiful. This film deals with real social problems that should be able to move gay audiences particularly, but also a straight public. Why, then, must the action be transported to the realm of the beautiful people, whom the majority of the audience can envy and even empathize with to some extent, but somehow not quite identify with? Having the action take place in beautiful surroundings among beautiful people is, of course, not limited to films that treat gay issues. But it seems to be endemic in films with gay social content, and in that sense, it is particularly harmful. What gay audiences need to see, and what straight people interested in gay issues also need to see, are gay social issues treated as taking place among average looking people in average looking surroundings. These are everyday issues touching the lives of the large majority of gay people. They are not abstractions; they are painful realities. This is no place for physical idealization. The issues are too serious for this type of useless, distracting decoration.