[Director Kaouther Ben Hania restages pivotal moments from a
family’s life telling the story of a Tunisian woman who has four
daughters, two of whom disappeared in 2015 to join ISIS in Libya. ]
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PORTSIDE CULTURE

‘FOUR DAUGHTERS’ REVIEW: THE ROLE FAMILY PLAYS  
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Beatrice Loayza
October 26, 2023
The New York Times
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_ Director Kaouther Ben Hania restages pivotal moments from a
family’s life telling the story of a Tunisian woman who has four
daughters, two of whom disappeared in 2015 to join ISIS in Libya. _

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Re-enactment is not an unusual or particularly novel tool in
documentary filmmaking yet recently it seems to have made a pointed
resurgence — perhaps because the method has a distinct relationship
to trauma and offers a compelling means of picking open old wounds for
cathartic and/or healing purposes. Think “Framing Agnes,”
“Procession,” and Nathan Fielder’s HBO series “The
Rehearsal.”

“Four Daughters” is another re-enactment film, distinct for the
sense of intimacy and familiarity it brings to seemingly extraordinary
circumstances. Olfa Hamrouni, a Tunisian woman, has four daughters,
two of whom disappeared in 2015 to join ISIS in Libya. Directed by
Kaouther Ben Hania, the documentary blends direct testimony by Olfa
and her two youngest daughters, Eya and Tayssir, with stagings of
pivotal scenes from the family’s life. The talking-heads style
confessions, beautifully framed in velvety shadows, resemble
stained-glass portraits.

The docufictional interludes are performed by Eya and Tayssir, as well
as two actresses who play the lost daughters Ghofrane (Ichraq Matar)
and Rahma (Nour Karoui). A separate actress also plays Olfa (Hend
Sabri), though Ben Hania shifts between the fictional drama and a
behind-the-scenes perspective, meaning we occasionally see Olfa
directing her double and tweaking the performances to conform to her
version of events.

We learn that Eya and Tayssir, only teenagers when they fled Olfa’s
home, turned to Islamic extremism as a form of rebellion; Olfa,
because of an upbringing punctuated by violence and misogyny, raised
her daughters with an iron fist. Despite the documentary’s exciting
hybridity, the conceit is more interesting in theory than it is in
practice. The re-enactments map out the family’s tension and lay
bare their wounds, but the lost daughters remain cyphers — the
appeal of radicalization frustratingly murky through the end.

FOUR DAUGHTERS
 In Arabic, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 47 minutes. In
theaters.

* Flm Review
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* Documentary Film
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* Four Daughters
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* Kaouther Ben Hania
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* Tunisia
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