From Cannes: ‘Four Daughters’ Revolutionizes Documentary Form

An emotional story of sisterhood, love, and pain, “Four Daughters” is part documentary, part stylized film, exploring one family’s life after the 2010-2011 revolution in Tunisia and how the rise of the Islamic State’s influence devastated their lives. Olfa Hamrouni and her two younger daughters Eya and Tayssir Chikahoui tell the story of their lives, childhood, and family leading up to losing the family’s oldest sisters, Rahma and Ghofrane.

“Four Daughters” opens by establishing the behind the curtain approach it will take for the whole film — showing both carefully acted scenes and interviews about the moments, as well as context. It opens with a scene of Ben Hania getting ready and finishing her hair and makeup, nervous about the film they are about to make. Beyond this, Ben Hania spends no significant time on screen, falling away into her role as director and letting the spotlight fall on Hamrouni’s family. This acknowledges her hand in curating the final cut of the film without pulling focus from the narrative of Olfa’s family.

Before Olfa, Eya, and Tayssir begin recounting events from their lives growing up, the film also pauses to show them getting ready together, and their nervous reactions to hearing that Eya and Tayssir will be acting and appearing in the film. The meeting between them and the actresses who will play their missing older sisters Rahma (Nour Karoui) and Ghofrane (Ichraq Matar) is emotional, something the framing is respectful towards without trying to simplify how difficult an experience this is.

“Four Daughters” blends talking head interviews, dramatized scenes, real-life news footage, and behind-the-scenes sequences in order to craft this family’s narrative. It appears to function as an opportunity for Olfa, Eya, and Tayssir to process their grief and remember the good and the bad about Rahma and Ghofrane as well as allowing them to share their story. Otherwise, the traditionally acted scenes break for Eya and Tayssir to reminisce about what this moment felt like and how they feel reliving it, and intense scenes transition into talking heads where they can explain context and their feelings. This is a beautiful use of form and extension of film as it creates a stronger emotional understanding than a traditional documentary could, without becoming overly scripted and polished.

In order to allow her to feel more comfortable sharing her story, Hend Sabri plays Olfa in the scenes. Scenes of Sabri in a bathroom listening to an interview given by Olfa and mimicking her intonation help show how involved Olfa herself was in how her story appeared on screen. During the filming of her wedding night, we see Olfa interrupting to correct Sabri’s performance, and impersonate how her sister barged in to tell them to get it over with. These touches make the acting feel more genuine, given that the scenes were guided by people who were actually there, while also making it clear that they were told from a biased perspective.

“Four Daughters” effortlessly acknowledges that everything is from a perspective and the truth is difficult to depict by showing the inside of this process, and in doing so becomes incredibly genuine. For example, a scene where Karoui and Matar lead Eya and Tayssir through an acting warm up exercise, something the two sisters are initially embarrassed by, exposes the cogs of the machine, underscoring the amount of work that went into the documentary as well as how seriously the project was taken. This is followed by a reenactment of an intense moment between the sisters, and then Eya and Tayssir’s reflections of it, showing how all of these pieces were necessary to capture their story.

These decisions elegantly humanize the family, especially as they discuss difficult subjects, such as the abuse they suffered and the political and religious unrest they were living through. By shedding the authoritative nature of a documentary and the artificial contrivance of pure fiction, “Four Daughters” meets in the middle to show a story that is one family’s perspective, but also something devastatingly real. “Four Daughters” is full of heart and courage, as Olfa, Eya and Tayssir reopen old wounds because they believe the story of their family and their sisters is worth telling.

While difficult to watch at moments, “Four Daughters” is a powerful endeavor that is brilliantly executed.

—Staff writer Millie Mae Healy can be reached at milliemae.healy@thecrimson.com.