Aïd el Kébir

Set in the east of trouble-torn Algeria (though filmed in Tunisia), this intelligent, moving and highly atmospheric mini-drama examines the crisis in the heart, mind and body of a woman, Hanifa (a noble and beautifully pitched performance by Mouffakir), when her brother-in-law comes to visit her father, the dying head of an orthodox family. She's pregnant, with 'a child of sin', her neighbours say. Is the brother-in-law the father? Will she submit to family plans to marry her off quickly? This prizewinning film spends most of its time in the family home and women's bath house picking up significant glances, conversations and details, which, added up, convey what it is to be an unmarried woman in modern Islamic Algeria. A film of elegant economy, which carries its progressive attitudes lightly.