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Bookmark this pageRaja (2003)
Director: Jacques Doillon
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Doillon's excellent and surprising film describes with considerable subtlety the sexual attraction of a well to do Frenchman living in Marrakesh towards a local orphan girl. Greggory gives a carefully calibrated performance as the middle aged Pierre Louÿs-quoting lothario ('I'm abject!' he lazily declares), and Benssallem, as his not spectacularly beautiful object of fascination, poignantly expresses the disturbing nature of the contradictory emotional pulls and social and economic pressures acting upon her. What distinguishes Raja is how Doillon's nurturing of spontaneous performances, alongside a keen sensitivity to cultural differences, linguistic, social and sexual, help the film to develop from a languorous essay on amour fou to an even more interesting, humanistic analysis of the sad barriers to mutual expression and communication we erect - or fall prey to.Author: WH
Cast & crew
Director: Jacques Doillon
Producer: Bénédicte Bellocq, Souad Lamriki, Margaret Ménégoz
Cast: Pascal Greggory, Najat Benssallem, Hassan Khissal, Ilham Abdelwahed, Ahmed Akensouss, Oum El Aid Ait Youss, Zineb Ouchita, Fatiha Khoulaki full cast
Duration: 112 mins
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