“I’ve had too many kids… That’s what I reproach him for.” In the same vein as Mais qu’est-ce qu’elles veu­lent?, Coline Serreau put her own spin on the carte blanche that TV producer Jean Frapat had accorded to some film­makers (including Chantal Akerman and Jean Eustache). Rather than film her own grandmothers, Serreau delved into the daily life of two Muslim fam­ilies originally from Algeria, living in Gardanne (Bouches-du-Rhone). The first grandmother, Zora, had 20 children (and three grandchildren) by a husband whom she met for the first time on their wedding day. While good humour reigns in the home, the glaring inequalities at play were not lost on anyone. The second grandmother is Kheira. Conversely, she describes her long struggle to find her son, who was taken away from her by her first husband. Never again will she trust a man… Emancipation, discrimination, the role of religion and life in France. With extreme close-up shots by Jacques Bouquin (director of photography for Ed­gardo Cozarinsky, Pierre Beuchot, Sim­one Bitton, among others) the intimist device employed by Serreau works like a dream to bring out these soft, mild-man­nered voices just waiting to be heard.

Gautier Roos