They share a mattress on the floor to sleep, like a married couple. Selim (Adbellah El Hajjouji) is a teenage boy who lives with his middle-aged mum Fatima-Zahra (Aicha Tebbae) in a tiny rented room. It is humane, richly involving and powerfully acted by two headliners making their screen debut. This follow-up, showing in the Venice Critics’ Week sidebar, is every bit as impressive: an intimate, poignant and even tragic study of a mother-son relationship set in Morocco. This is something we may never know or truly understand, but Boulifa has certainly raised it to our attention and we are listening.British-Moroccan film-maker Fyzal Boulifa made an impressive debut three years ago with Lynn + Lucy, his social-realist psychodrama of female friendship on an Essex housing estate. What is most concerning and unnerving is how accurately the character representations in this fictitious story might be reflected in society. The Damned Don’t Cry is a tableau of sadness and suffering, as much as it is about determination.
Sex sells and both Selim and Fatima-Zahra know this too well. The world and Western society have treated them badly, moulding them into the products of their manipulators, but once formed, it is almost impossible for them to change the person they have become. This said, both Tebbae and El Hajjouji are very good and tasked with delivering some incredibly powerful scenes with each other, especially once Selim falls down the wrong path, pulling him away from his mother. The slow to steady pace, interjected with dialogue, is quite abruptly written and it is often hard to know whether Selim is coming or going, quite literally. That life is a wearisome endeavour for the characters, permeates the screen, at times weighing heavily on the viewer. Throughout The Damned Don’t Cry, we find ourselves asking what it is that Fatima is actually searching for in this latter part of her life, and when will we actually get to find out? Boulifa chooses to curve the narrative away from her and towards her son Selim, which is undeniably more interesting, but nonetheless leaves a few character motivations left uncovered.
But to achieve this she has had to go to some dark, non-hilal places. Fatima-Zahra is practically estranged from her own family because she wishes to live a more glamorous existence, perhaps more commonly associated with a Western lifestyle. For many in Morocco, life tells a very different story depending on how you choose to live it.
You make your own luck in this world and you have to admire the courage and drive of each character. When he discovers the truth about his mother’s more sordid past, he vows to take control of the family’s prospects by finding work, but before long finds himself slipping down a similar path to younger Fatima-Zahra, pushing their relationship to breaking point.
Moving from place to place in search of a better life, and running away from Fatima-Zahra’s latest problems, Selim is treated as a pawn.
#Damned tv show trailer movie
British Moroccan filmmaker Fyzal Boulifa returns with his latest movie following the success of his BAFTA-nominated debut feature drama Lynn + Lucy, this time encapsulating this very meaning.įatima-Zahra (Aicha Tebbae) and her teenage son Selim (Abdellah El Hajjouji) understand that they must make their own luck in this world to survive. In the land of souks, markets and chancers, the message is clear: the damned indeed do not cry, they persevere.
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