Themes: Interracial/Cross-Cultural Romance, Servants and Employers, Class Differences
Main Cast: Pascal Greggory, Najat Benssallem, Ilham Abdelwahed, Hassan Khissal, Oum El Aid Ait Youss
Release Year: 2003
Country: FR/MA
Run Time: 115 minutes
Plot
Raja (Najat Benssallem) is a 19-year-old Moroccan girl. An orphan, she's led a difficult life, but has gotten off the streets and lives with her cousin Nadira (Ilham Abdelwahad) and her family. Raja and Nadira are happy to get low-paying jobs working in the garden of a wealthy middle-aged Frenchman, Fred (Pascal Greggory). Fred is immediately attracted to the new girl and the other girls tease Raja about his interest, encouraging her to go after his money. Fred discusses his growing infatuation with his two elderly cooks, Oum El Aid (Oum El Aid Ait Youss) and Zineb (Zineb Ouchita), who try to discourage his interest. Because they don't speak the same language, Fred and Raja often have to rely on others to translate as they dance around each other. Fred hires Raja to be his maid, and flirts shamelessly with her. She's intrigued, and desperate to change her life, but she keeps him at a distance, uncertain of the seriousness of his interest. Raja has a boyfriend, Youssef (Hassan Khissal), who resents her relationship with the Frenchman; in addition, her brother (Abdelilah Lamrani), who pimped her out as a girl, still tries to control her life, taking a share of the money she earns. He plans for her to marry a policeman he knows. Fred struggles with his emotions. They obviously feel something for each other, but the cultural and economic differences between them may be too immense to overcome. Raja, written and directed by Jacques Doillon (Ponette), was shown at the 2003 New York Film Festival. Benssallem won the Marcello Mastroianni Award (for best first performance) at the 2003 Venice Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Review
Jacques Doillon's Raja is a wonderfully rich, character-driven drama that also offers an astute and realistic portrait of the post-colonial world. The film is full of vivid supporting performances, particularly Zineb Ouchita and Oum El Aid Alt Youss as Fred's (Pascal Greggory) amusingly possessive cooks and Ilham Abdelwahed as Raja's (Najat Benssallem) caring and levelheaded cousin Nadira. But the whole film hinges on the magnificently complex performances of Greggory and Benssallem and their roller coaster relationship. Benssallem is a marvel in naturalistic mode, beautifully conveying the emotional turmoil that a rich old Frenchman's attention arouses in a prematurely cynical young Moroccan woman, while Greggory is more actorly in a splendidly witty turn as the Frenchman, whose world-weariness can't quite cover up for the fact that he doesn't understand the first thing about Raja's inner life. Fred's genuine anguish over the situation into which he gets himself and Raja's embattled mixture of ambivalence and vulnerability help the film transcend any simplistic notions about oppressor and oppressed. These are, first and foremost, two sympathetic and believable human beings caught in a whirlpool of outside forces. Doillon's clear eye extends to the film's visuals. Raja is erotic, funny, surprising, tender, brutal, and assiduously humanistic in its treatment of this potentially sensational material. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
