Un diván en Túnez

A beautiful film to see. Set in Tunis, it has various readings within it, from light and cheerful to deep and full of intense content that an attentive audience will have the pleasure of noticing.

Arab Blues (A Couch in Tunis) is an instantly likeable film. Its opening shot - about an old man's description of who Sigmund Freud might be from his looks - is charming and so is the story that succeeds it of a young woman (Golshifteh Farahani) coming back to her homeland, Tunisia, from Paris to start a psychoanalysis practice. She knows she will be looked down for it, a testament that she immediately gets from her uncle. But she is independent, courageous, and gritty, and so the film begins. I absolutely loved all the characters and their performances here, especially Farahani, Feryel Chammari, and Aïsha Ben Miled. Each actor is better than the other and I had a sweet time looking at them, delivering beautiful dialogues and acting like it's real life. The social critique is pregnant here but Arab Blues projects itself as a lively comedy about a woman's struggle in modern-day Tunis, a state still marred by backward beliefs and customs, something that is common everywhere. With a supporting soundtrack, adequate humour, and the ability to keep you engaged, Arab Blues is easily one of the most pleasant comedies you will see this year. Glad I sat down and considered EUFF. Grade A-.

(Watched at the 2020 European Union Film Festival of India (EUFF).)

I felt like the last 10 minutes of the film were missing..

The struggle to become something or someone .. to succeed in ones profession or dream/pursuit. And if you are a woman ... well the struggle can be even worse. Especially in some countries and situations. Not that we have reached real equality anywhere, but in some countries it is even worse than in others, when it comes to women being able to work however they want to.

That is just the basis, just one of the points the movie is making. Psychologically speaking there is more to it. Great central performance, great persistence, great fight for what she believes in. And really fun and interesting side stories of the ... side characters overall. A nice little movie/drama, that you will like if you are into low budget character studies.

I found this rather a french movie than a tunisian movie. A lot of the dialogues are in french, the main character's french (although of Tunisian background) which leads to some disappointment if you're looking for a real tunisian movie. That being said, the main actress is really credible and plays very well her role. I also appreciated many comic situations especially at the beginning of the movie which makes it an overall pleasant movie, not too boring or long like many other indy french or tunisian movies. We can regret also a bit too much of cliches on both parisian (the rudeness of the psychanalyst) and tunisian people but that is done without any bad intention which makes those OK.