Film Review: The Wedding Song (Le Chant des Mariées)
The Wedding Song (Le Chant des Mariées) Released 2009 Director: Karin Albou Writer: Karin Albou Country: France / Tunisia Language: In French and Arabic with subtitles Runtime: 100mins Broadcast on SBS 11 November 2009 This excellent film, set in Tunisia in 1942 during the German occupation, focuses on two 16 year old girls, Myriam (Jewish) and Nour (Muslim). Both their families are poor; Nour because that is her family’s lot, and Myriam because she and her mother have fallen on hard times after the death of her father. The two families live in adjoining apartments overlooking the same courtyard in the alleyways of Tunis, where the two girls have grown up together, developing a strong sisterly bond and sharing secrets and dreams of love. Myriam has been to school and is literate; Nour has not attended school, so Myriam has taught her to read Arabic. The girls consider their different religious faiths as being of no consequence to their friendship. Each girl is to be married off by thei...