The Harem of Madame Osmane
Le harem de Mme Osmane
Algeria, France, Spain
2000
100 Min
Color
French
Synopsis
An off-beat comedy that takes an unconventional look at the problems of contemporary Algeria, writer-director Nadir Mokneche’s debut feature is set in 1993 Algiers. As the country veers toward civil war, Madame Osmane (Spanish actress and former Almodóvar mainstay Carmen Maura) exercises a casual dictatorship over the tenants of her apartment building. A former freedom fighter whose husband — also an ex-freedom fighter — is living in France with another woman, Madame Osmane is determined to control the lives of her daughter Sakina (Linda Slimani), her batty maid, Meriem (Biyouna), young, French-born wife Yasmine (Myriam Amarouchene), and various other tenants. —IMDb
Director
Nadir Moknèche
Viva Laldjérie is the second film by Nadir Moknèche. His first film, the Harem of Madame Osmane, was released in cinemas in France in July 2000 and was screened at numerous international festivals. Born in 1965, he spent his childhood and teenage years in Algiers where he went to the Saint Joseph school until it was nationalised in 1976, then a public secondary school and lycée until 1984, when he passed his baccalauréat in France. After two years studying law, he left for London and started travelling. When he returned to Paris, he followed drama lessons from 1989 to 1993 at the Chaillot National Theatre and with Ariane Mnouchkine at the Thétre du Soleil. It was during this apprenticeship that he discovered the cinema, bought a super-8 camera and shot several short films. Between 1993 and 1995, he attended film lessons at the New School for Social Research in New York and made two short films, Jardin and Hanifa, the winner of the first prize at the university festival.—Filmmovement… read more
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