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Beauty and the Dogs

Kaouther Ben Hania’s bold and defiant fiction debut tells the story of a sexual assault in nine stunning single-take sequences.

Drama 2017 100 mins Not rated

Director: Kaouther Ben Hania

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Overview

Nine single-take sequences follow Mariam (Mariam Al Ferjani) over the course of one night. It begins benignly at a university fundraising event, where she catches the eye of a handsome new face. The second sequence sees the man pursuing her, his intentions unclear. Mariam next appears dishevelled and petrified. She has just been raped by several policemen. And so a bureaucratic nightmare begins, as Mariam and the man attempt to obtain a medical or police statement in order to report the crime.

The film offers sharp social commentary on the agency of a rape victim – questioned rather than believed and engaged in a maddening cycle of victimising behaviour. Mariam’s defiance reveals the manipulation of stigma against her and the underlying systemic corruption, but also the power she that has to resist.

Director
Kaouther Ben Hania
Featuring
Mariam Al FerjaniGhanem ZrelliNoomen HamdaMohamed Akkari
Genres
DramaThriller
Certificate
Not rated
Released
2017
Country
Tunisia
Language
Arabic with English subtitles