Four sisters with seemingly nothing in common but shared blood and unforgiving parents finally bond over their traumas in debuting director Zaid Abu Hamdan’s female empowerment comedy Daughters of Abdulrahman. A long gestating project with multiple funds attached, the film is the kind of crowd pleaser that takes a formula and milks it for all its worth, giving each sister a surface personality with predictable stereotypes and then folding in some personal hurdles to overcome that will allow them to more fully realize their potentials. An unforgiving stridency in multiple scenes will hinder play outside the MENA region, as will a deeply galling homophobic plot twist, but Arab audiences will greet Daughters warmly for its easily digested message of women’s liberation.
Hijab-wearing Zainab (Farah Bsaiso) is the seamstress of her neighborhood in Amman, fantasizing about wearing the clothes (a sexy nightie, a wedding gown) she makes for others. She has all the stereotyped qualities of the neurotic middle-aged unmarried daughter, looking after her cantankerous father (Khalid Al Tarifi) and hiding away memories of her one boyfriend. Some time earlier, her younger sister Khitam (Mariam Al Basha) caused an unspoken family rupture but she’s returning home from Dubai to seek her estranged father’s blessing; the news of her imminent arrival triggers something in Abdulrahman and he disappears just as the other two sisters also descend on the family home.
Chain-smoking Samah (Hanan Al Hilo) is the outlier, her blonde highlights, tight jeans and Christian Louboutin heels identifying her as rich and unconventional, with the kind of bitchy banter designed to elicit raised eyebrows from other characters and whoops from the audience. On the flip side is Amaal (Sara Mubarak) in a niqab, perpetually on edge and trying to protect her kids from her abusive Islamist husband. As the sisters look high and low for their father, Zainab’s paranoia about gossip and reputation leads her to desperately try and cover up his absence from everyone else.
The script is peppered with plenty of laughs and nice set pieces, such as a scene of the four women in Samah’s Mercedes stuck in traffic and losing their cool. Their disparate personalities mean sparks are constantly flying, especially between Samah and Amaal who are the more demonstrative of the group and clearly polar opposites in the life choices. All are deeply unhappy with their present situation, though Khitam, the weakest-drawn figure, is the only one with a satisfying relationship; she’s come to Jordan to finally get her father’s blessing as she prepares to marry the man she moved in with some years earlier, when she caused such a scandal at home.
As each sister’s story develops, they’re given their expected moments of fury and catharsis, though the level of exhaustive screaming in some scenes, while not unusual in MENA-region melodramas, will be off-putting for those beyond. More problematic however is the way Samah’s situation with a cheating husband is presented as beyond the pale because she discovers he’s sleeping with a man. The idea of adultery equals bad but gay is even worse is a troubling idea to reinforce in a region where homophobia is so rampant, and plays on the worst prejudices: why even go there in a movie meant to be about female empowerment?
Saba Mubarak, the best-known actress of the group, gets to show off her fire as Amaal, terrorized for years by an abusive husband but finding her gumption with the solidarity of her sisters. An even more showy role is accorded to Samah, all Housewives of Beverly Hills with her sass; she’s a fun camp icon and Al Hilo plays it to the hilt, toning it down just enough to not be a parody but keeping the energy level high enough to make her the film’s real star. Bsaiso gets Zainab’s fear just right, but the character’s mousiness needs a little more depth before the lead-up to her soliloquy scream.
Director: Zaid Abu Hamdan
Screenplay: Zaid Abu Hamdan
Cast: Saba Mubarak, Farah Bsaiso, Hanan Al Hilo, Mariam Al Basha, Khalid Al Tarifi
Producer: Aya Wuhoush
Executive producer: Saba Mubarak
Co-producers: Alaa Karkouti, Maher Diab
Cinematography: Ahmad Jalboush
Production design: Karim Kheir, Nasser Zoubi
Costume design: Farah Karouta
Editing: Dina Farouk
Music: Masis Mardirossian
Sound: Ahmed Aboulsaad, Amer Dweik
Production companies: Pan East Media (Jordan), Lagoonie Film Production (Egypt), Arab Media Network, WIKA Production & Distribution (Egypt), MAD Solutions (Egypt)
Venue: Cairo International Film Festival (International competition)
In Arabic
111 minutes
