There’s a claustrophobic, smothering love between sex worker Fatimah-Zahra (Aicha Tebbae) and her teenage son Selim (Abdellah El Hajjouji), both forced to live on the unforgiving periphery of Morocco’s conservative society. It’s the kind of close but fractious relationship that comes from being a self-contained, self-sufficient family unit – mother and son are constantly on the move, fleeing debts, disgrace or the scandal that seems to trail after Fatimah-Zahra like a cheap perfume. But now they are out of options, and, after a stormy reunion with Fatimah-Zahra’s estranged family, Selim learns the uncomfortable truth about his paternity. His anger at his mother is scalding and destructive; it is, we sense, partly driven by the fact that Selim and Fatimah-Zahra are more alike than he would ever admit.
Fyzal Boulifa’s follow-up to his acclaimed debut Lynn + Lucy, The Damned Don’t Cry is impressive on every level. The performances are full-blooded and lived in; the camera finds a painterly beauty even in moments of despair and squalor. And the score, a discordant duel between cello and harp, cleverly evokes the disharmony between mother and son.
In cinemas and on Curzon Home Cinema
