The String (2009)
1h 33m | PG-13
Malik has a lot on his plate when he returns home to Tunisia after living in France. He's processing his father's death, he can't come out to his mother, and his childhood anxieties have resurfaced. But all of Malik's problems seem to fade away when he falls for Bilal, the dreamy houseboy at his mother's bourgeois estate.
Director: Mehdi Ben Attia
Studio: Need Productions
Genre: Romance, Drama
Video: 720p
Cast
Claudia Cardinale
as Sara
Antonin Stahly-Vishwanadan
as Malik
Salim Kéchiouche
as Bilal
Driss Ramdi
as
Ramla Ayari
as
Ali Mrabet
as
Reviews
Quite a classy little film, this one. "Malik" (Antonin Viswanadhan) returns from Paris to his home in Tunisia after the death of his father and falls in love with his mother's handyman "Bilal" (Salim Kechiouche). He doesn't so much come out to, as get caught out by, his mother - a still stunning Claudia Cardinale - and the story focuses on the personal and cultural hurdles not just current, but in his past, as they all come to terms. It's a beautifully shot, evenly paced story from a part of the world not often associated with this genre of cinema. Well worth a watch.