Divines (film)
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''Divines'' is a 2016
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Houda Benyamina Houda Benyamina (born 1980) is a French director and screenwriter. She won the Cannes Film Festival Camera d'Or and César Award for Best First Feature Film for her 2016 film ''Divines''. Benyamina was born in Viry-Châtillon, Paris in a Morocca ...
. It was screened in the
Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festiv ...
section at the
2016 Cannes Film Festival The 69th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2016. Australian director George Miller was the President of the Jury for the main competition. French actor Laurent Lafitte was the host for the opening and closing ceremonies. On 15 Marc ...
. At Cannes, Houda Benyamina won the
Caméra d'Or The Caméra d'Or ("''Golden Camera''") is an award of the Cannes Film Festival for the best first feature film presented in one of the Cannes' selections (Official Selection, Directors' Fortnight or International Critics' Week The International ...
. The film also was an official selection of the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
in the Discovery section. It was released on
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
worldwide (except in France) on 18 November 2016.


Plot

Dounia is a teenage girl living in a
Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
banlieue In France, the term banlieue (; ) refers to a suburb of a large city. Banlieues are divided into autonomous administrative entities and do not constitute part of the city proper. For instance, 80% of the inhabitants of the Paris Metropolitan Are ...
on the outskirts of
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
with her mother and aunt. She and her best friend Maimouna hustle for money, shoplifting from supermarkets and then reselling their wares on the streets to their classmates. The two girls have a secret hiding place in the catwalk of a local theatre where they observe dance auditions. Djigui, an untrained dancer, catches Dounia's eye. One day, Maimouna dares Dounia to spit on him and she does, resulting in him trying to chase her down. He ends up slipping and Dounia rescues him by pulling him up from the catwalk. At school, Dounia is expected to be trained as a receptionist. She rebels against her teacher, ridiculing her for her lack of money and vowing to earn more money than her teacher could ever dream of. Rebecca, a local drug dealer, shows the kids a video from a trip to
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
and plans to move there for the growing sex tourism. Determined to be part of Rebecca's gang, Dounia observes her giving drugs to a dealer, Samir. She steals the drugs from a hiding spot and brings them to Rebecca, telling her that she would do a better job as a dealer. Impressed, Rebecca agrees to let Dounia start working for her. Rebecca gives Dounia and Maimouna a series of odd jobs which they successfully complete, working up the ranks from chores to dealing drugs. Rebecca confides in the two that a rich man, Reda, keeps 100,000
euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
s in his apartment, and plans for Dounia to steal it. Dounia continues to hide her money in the theatre but when it is gone she confronts Djigui, who refuses to give it back. Samir drives Dounia and Maimouna go to a nightclub and succeed in getting the mark to notice Dounia. When they leave, they find that Samir has left; when she gets home, Dounia finds Samir having sex with her mother. She scolds her mother, then burns Samir's mother's car. When the firefighters show up Dounia throws glass bottles at them and starts a riot, leading her to be arrested. At the station, Maimouna and Dounia are loudly berated by Maimouna's devout
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
parents and an angry Rebecca scolds Dounia for getting in trouble with the police. Dounia goes to Djigui to get her money back in order to gain back Rebecca's favor. Djigui tells her he has been hired as the principal dancer in the show and gives her tickets to watch him perform, along with the money. Instead of going to see him, Dounia goes with Reda to a club. He takes her to his apartment and when he leaves to take a shower Dounia begins searching for his secret cache of money. She is discovered by Reda, who savagely beats her before attempting to rape her. Dounia fights back, knocking out Reda and then manages to locate the money. She leaves some of the money with her mother and hides some for Maimouna, intending to leave on a dance tour with Djigui. Before she can go she receives a message from Rebecca who is holding Maimouna hostage until Dounia returns. Dounia brings the money to Rebecca, but she notices that some of it is missing and douses Dounia with gasoline, threatening to burn her. Before she can Samir realizes that the money is at her mother's home and leaves to go get it. Enraged, Dounia attacks Rebecca before she throws a lighter and the room they are in catches fire with them locked inside. Maimouna is able to open a vent but is unable to go through. Rebecca escapes and Maimouna urges Dounia to leave as her face is covered in gasoline. The money they were fighting over burns behind them. The firemen arrive in time, but wait outside as they are not allowed to fight fires in the neighbourhood anymore without the presence of riot police. Dounia begs them to save her friend, but they are unmoved, and the building explodes, killing Maimouna. An inconsolable Dounia watches a riot unfold as the police arrive.


Cast

*
Oulaya Amamra Oulaya Amamra (born 12 November 1996) is a French actress known for starring in the 2016 films ''Divines'' and '' Tamara''. She won the César Award for Most Promising Actress and the Lumières Award for Most Promising Actress for ''Divines''. A ...
as Dounia *
Déborah Lukumuena Déborah Lukumuena (born 4 December 1994) is a French actress. She is best known for her debut role in the 2016 drama film ''Divines'', for which she won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress. Career In 2017, Déborah Lukumuena won the C ...
as Maimouna * Kévin Mischel as Djigui * Jisca Kalvanda as Rebecca * Yasin Houicha as Samir *
Majdouline Idrissi Majdouline Idrissi (born 10 March 1977) is a Moroccan actress and comedian. Biography Idrissi was born in Rabat in 1977. Her parents are of Berber ancestry. Idrissi dreamed of becoming a ballerina, enrolling in ballet lessons at the age of four. ...
as Myriam * Mounir Margoum as Cassandra * Farid Larbi as Reda


Awards and accolades


References


External links

* *
''Divines''
on Cineuropa
''Divines''
on UniFrance
''Divines''
on
France 2 Cinéma France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews. Since 3:20 CET on 7 ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Divines 2016 films 2016 crime drama films 2010s female buddy films 2010s buddy drama films 2010s teen drama films 2016 directorial debut films French crime drama films Hood films 2010s French-language films Best First Feature Film César Award winners Caméra d'Or winners Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress César Award-winning performance Films set in Paris Films shot in Paris French female buddy films French teen drama films French buddy drama films 2010s American films 2010s French films