Four Daughters

Between light and darkness stands Olfa, a Tunisian woman and the mother of four daughters. One day, her two older daughters disappear. To fill in their absence, the filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania invites professional actresses and invents a unique cinema experience that will lift the veil on Olfa and her daughters’ life stories. An intimate journey of hope, rebellion, violence, transmission and sisterhood that will question the very foundations of our societies.

• Four Daughters is an enthralling narrative about memory, motherhood and the inherited traumas of a patriarchal society… … Rarely does Ben Hania’s film feel exploitative or manipulative. In fact, more than anything, Four Daughters is radical in its honesty and courage. Lovia Gyarkye – The Hollywood Reporter 

• There is real emotional warmth and human sympathy in this … docudrama experiment in getting actors to play some of the real people in a tragic news story from Tunisia. Peter Bradshaw – The Guardian 

• Olfa remains an intriguing mixture of contradictions throughout, warm and quite progressive on one hand and then judgmental and dismissive when confronted with another subject …  watching Olfa with her two remaining children and their discussions about their ideals and beliefs is often fascinating. Nicholas Bell – IONCINEMA.com 

• Tyrannical parents, family abuse and teenage confusion are all addressed in this de facto art therapy exercise…  an overtly feminist voice … and the matriarchal power of Olfa is challenged by the two younger girls…  in front of the filmmaker’s benevolent gaze and with all her contradictions and insecurities, Olfa manages to capture viewers’ hearts.  Zornitsa Staneva – Tilt Magazine 

• Four Daughters is genuinely hard to forget. It will linger with you for days afterward. That’s mostly due to Olfa’s heartbreaking perseverance to find her children and a wee bit of Ben Hania’s storytelling skill too. Gregory Ellwood – The Playlist 

• Kaouther Ben Hania’s experimental storytelling and implementation of important topics always make her films an interesting watch… Ben Hania laces the painful reality with humour to make it digestible, not allowing viewers to shy away from being educated about the horrors that women go through in Tunisia… Ben Hania keeps pushing the boundaries and the pay off is worth it.  Lopa K – The Review Geek 

Mature subject – Emotional tense

• Cannes Festival
• Munich Film Festival
• Brussels International Film Festival

• Cannes – Golden Eye, Documentary Prize; 
• François Chalais Prize 
• Munich – Best International Film 
• Brussels – International Competition Jury Award