SummaryAlgiers, 1997. The country is in the hands of terrorist groups, seeking to establish an Islamic and archaic state. Women are particularly affected and oppressed by primitive diktas, who seek to take control of their bodies and control their passage through the public space. While a frenzied hunt for women unveiled is launched, Nedjma, a young stu... Read More
Directed By:Mounia Meddour
Written By:Fadette Drouard, Mounia Meddour
Papicha
Metascore
Generally Favorable
69
User score
Generally Favorable
6.4
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
67% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
33% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
May 28, 2020
90
Marked by a fierce vitality and vivid emotional authenticity, Papicha thrives on the heat of Nedjma’s anger and the glorious bond among the mostly young female performers.
Dec 29, 2021
80
It’s the greatest asset of Papicha that it condemns without being dogmatic, showing its central conflict to be more complicated than Western audiences might otherwise believe.
User score
Generally Favorable
57% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
29% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
14% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Jun 4, 2020
8
An engaging tale about a conflict that's received little cinematic attention told from a unique narrative perspective. This fact-based dramatic feature film debut from director Mounia Meddour follows the efforts of an outspoken fashion design student seeking to make a sociopolitical statement about women's rights in her country during the 1990s Algerian Civil War and the aggressively intolerant (and often-deadly) tactics of Islamic fundamentalists to coerce compliance, even in matters of clothing. While some elements of the story seem a bit forced, the film nevertheless raises a variety of intriguing thematic issues using a unlikely but highly inventive form of symbolism. A truly pleasant surprise that emerges from a cinematically innovative premise.
May 28, 2020
80
The film’s most rewarding strand is the inventive, pointed way in which clothes and textiles are used as metaphors both for female constraints and female defiance.
May 29, 2020
75
Brisk, confident, and atmospheric, Mounia Meddour’s feature debut Papicha promptly brings to mind certain female driven films of the 21st century, centered on young women’s camaraderie, resistance and unique struggles—movies like Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s moody “Mustang,” Margaret Betts’ somber “Novitiate,” Peter Mullan’s devastating “The Magdalene Sisters” and even Talya Lavie’s darkly comedic “Zero Motivation.”
May 28, 2020
50
The screenplay’s seams show so glaringly, and the finish is so tonally mismatched, that notwithstanding audience identification and the inevitable “loosely inspired by real events” tagline, Papicha feels conspicuously manipulative.
May 28, 2020
50
Very knowing about female friendships and the different possible reactions to forced social change, this is a lovingly acted film that, unfortunately, derails in the third act; the calamitous events depicted work fine as a blunt metaphor for where the country found itself or was headed, but doesn't convince on a narrative level or in terms of its psychological impact on the characters.
Apr 12, 2022
6
''Women should stay at home to be closer to Allah.
When they go outside they expose themselves to men.'' ''What if she needs to support her family?'' ''She asks her father, brother or husband for permission.'' ''What if she has no one? is she left to starve?'' ''With Allah everything works'' ''I am sick and tired of the way things work.'' This film is set in 1997 and you could easily say that it takes place in the present day in lands controlled by Islamic fundamentalists who brutally curtail women's rights, for the simple reason that they consider them inferior. Papicha is a story of rebellion that although it uses a real historical background, its story is centered on its protagonist and therefore its display of the repression is only focused on her eyes and so it feels somewhat limited, yet it never loses sight of its message.
Sep 20, 2020
0
The full movie made for make muslims bad with wrong tradition and make them look like a terrorist
Production Company:
- The Ink Connection
- High Sea Production
- Tayda Film
- Scope Pictures
- Tribus P Film
- Centre Algérien de Développement du Cinéma (CADC)
- CaleSon
- Same Player
- Fonds Impact
Release Date:May 29, 2020
Duration:1 h 48 m
Website:
Awards
Valladolid International Film Festival
• 3 Wins & 4 Nominations
Festival du Film Francophone d'Angoulême (FFA)
• 3 Wins & 3 Nominations
César Awards, France
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
