We interview Mehdi Barsaoui about Aïcha, his creative process in making the movie, and the inspiration behind his film.
Starting in Tozuer, a region in southern Tunisia, Aïcha follows a young woman named Aya (Fatma Sfarr) who feels trapped in her everyday life, split between her job in a hotel and living with her parents, who are hoping to marry her off to a family friend soon. She doesn’t see any possibility for change until the bus she uses to commute to work gets into a tragic accident that leaves Aya as the sole survivor. When everyone, including her parents, thinks she died, Aya sees her chance to escape this life and seek a fresh start in Tunis under a new identity. However, her new life may soon be jeopardised by her involvement in a police investigation as a main witness.
Aïcha was recently screened as part of the Thrill strand at the BFI London Film Festival, after premiering in Venice earlier this year. During the festival, we talked with the director Mehdi Barsaoui about his new film, what inspired him to tell this story, and what it means in today’s world. Read our interview!
Mehdi Barsaoui on why he decided to tell this story in Aïcha
How did you first get the idea for Aicha?
Mehdi Barsaoui: Everything started in 2019, when I was promoting The Son, my first film. I was listening to the news on TV and heard about this twenty-year girl who survived a bus accident and asked her friend to tell her parents she was dead. I did not feel the need to tell that story yet until I found out that my wife was pregnant with our daughter. I immediately asked myself how I would react if this happened to my daughter. That is how everything started: I did not work on the film immediately, but I was considering this question of why we, as people from Tunisia, have to go through death in order to live. I thought this could be very powerful cinematographically, so the film is loosely inspired by this real-life story. The movie became a work of fiction: Aya does not exist and came exclusively from my imagination.
Mehdi Barsaoui on Aïcha‘s setting
The story starts in the south of Tunisia. Why did you decide to use this as a setting for Aïcha?
Mehdi Barsaoui: I can’t really say why. My first film is also set in the south, in Tataouine. I have a very strong bond with the south of the county, I think it is very cinematic and can say a lot about Tunisia as a whole but while avoiding stereotypes as well.
The south is also portrayed very differently from the big city Ayla moves to during Aïcha. Is that something you wanted to reflect on and does it portray the picture of a divided country from a cultural point of view?
M.B.: Absolutely. Aïcha is both an emotional and a geographical journey: it starts in the south and travels to the north to discover Tunis, the capital city, through the eyes of the protagonist. But this is also true for the mise-en-scene, which also portrays this journey. Touzer is a very colourful place, but at the beginning of Aïcha everything is dull and muted, like her. The colours and atmosphere mirror what she feels inside. As she moves towards Tunis, the film becomes more colourful, until she starts living a nightmare in the big city and everything becomes darker. For her, Tunis is like a dream come true; it is very idealised, but the reality is very different when we find out the truth about the capital city.
Do you think that your personal experience affected how you portrayed the city in a less mainstream way?
M.B.: Yes, I was born and grew up here before moving to Bologna for university, so I wanted to portray Tunis like the city I know and lived in, without any stereotypes that people often have if they don’t know the city. I also wanted to show how she had an idealized image of how she wanted Tunis to be. The capital city also represents the modernity that Aya is looking for and can’t find in Tozuer. In this sense, I wanted to show many sides of Tunis and how different ways of thinking can coexist in this melting pot that the city represents.
Mehdi Barsaoui on what Aïcha tells us about the current political scenario in Tunisia and globally
Aya’s story invites a reflection on the condition of women today: was there an intention of having a social and political commentary when you wrote Aïcha?
Mehdi Barsaoui: Of course, I can’t deny that. It was not my initial intention, however, when I started writing the film. I did not sit down and decide to write a commentary on the current affairs in Tunisia. I wanted to tell the story of a young woman who is a citizen of this country, which is something I relate to. Although she is a woman and I am a man, I never felt like there was a gender barrier when I was writing because I was telling the story of a human being. I was interested in portraying my society and the paradox of a country that is often considered the most modern amongst Arab countries. I was also telling this story of injustice and personal growth that lets her become free of the social and political weight that is put on her shoulders.
The way Aïcha portrays the police also seems like a reflection on the corrupt institutions of the country, was that your intention while making the film?
M.B.: In a similar way, I did not start out wanting to denounce the police or the corruption within the system. At first, I wanted to make a story about a woman and her search for freedom. As a writer, I needed her to face difficulties and conflict, something that stops her freedom; what could work better than the police in an Arab country where we lived 23 years under a regime? That is how this part of the story started and how Aïcha became a thriller and an accusation towards the system. It starts with what she thinks is a small lie that she was asked to tell, but she can’t imagine the effect that it will have. Her dream becomes a nightmare and she wants to escape from all of this.
Aïcha made me think about the current political scenario across the world. Do you think films have a duty to comment on the world around us?
M.B.: Art is political. It needs to be political if you want to be honest. I am not sure whether cinema – and art in general – can actually change anything. But it can change the way we see things, and that is powerful. It can give us a window on a reality that maybe can’t be changed, but I think that changing people’s perspective on things is a win in itself.
Mehdi Barsaoui on the end of Aïcha and what he hopes audiences get from the film
Aïcha has a positive ending, even after all the struggles. Was that always your intention for this film?
Mehdi Barsaoui: Absolutely, it is a very hopeful film. It may be negative for two hours but the last three minutes end on a very positive note where justice prevails. Of course, you don’t know for sure. As a writer, I don’t really care about what her life will be like after, but rather about the person she has become after she could decide for herself and shape her own life. Maybe without Kerim, she could have continued like before. She needed this shock to grow as a character.
What do you hope that audiences take away from watching Aïcha?
M.B.: I would be very happy if audiences could go past the language barrier and the geographical barrier. I wish these were not obstacles. If viewers can see themselves in the main character, regardless of where they are from, I would be very happy because it is a journey of freedom whether they are American, British, or from an Arab country, it is about emotions.
Aïcha premiered at Venice and was just screened at the BFI London Film Festival. What does that mean to you?
M.B. The fact that we get to share our stories with an audience that may not be familiar with them is very beautiful. This is especially true for the London Film Festival, where we have the chance to tell our stories and make our own cinema and art travel across borders. I know there are not many Tunisian films at the festival, so I am very honoured. Venice was also very special; I love festivals where you can meet people. It is not just glitz and glamour, but it is, more than anything, about cinema. That makes me very happy.
Mehdi Barsaoui on working with lead Fatma Sfarr in Aïcha
Fatma Sfarr’s performance is incredible. How did you choose her in the audition process and work with her to portray this character?
Mehdi Bersaoui: I actually started auditioning around 10 months before the shoot, because finding the right person was really important to me; it was stressing me out! To be very honest, I hate the traditional casting process, I find it very fake. As writers, it takes us years to write the screenplay, and the casting directors only send a small part of the scene. The actors won’t really know the story behind it or their characters’ backstories. They come into this office, and it feels very impersonal, they say their lines and leave. So, I do it differently: I need to get to know people more. That is why I start so early, almost a year before filming.
I initially meet all the actors, tell them the story, and do a little improvisation exercise. After explaining the plot, I usually play the officer in the first scene in the police station. I give them a lot of freedom: they can do anything except leave the room. This allows me to immediately see the difference between the actor and the character they are playing. Then, I ask them a question, I tell them: you have 5 minutes to talk to the camera, staring down the lenses, but talk to your younger self, what advice about the future would you give to yourself when you were eight or ten years old? This lets me see their honesty and vulnerability.
Some actors refuse to do this exercise because it requires them to be very open and some people don’t accept that. For me, these are small exercises that help me decide who to cast, and Fatma was the one that struck me the most; that is why I decided to work with her. She is very mesmerizing: she can be so many different people at the same time with the way she changes her hair.
Mehdi Barsaoui on his future projects after Aïcha
Is there anything you can say about your future projects or anything that you would like to focus on after Aïcha?
Mehdi Barsaoui: All my future projects are currently pending. With everything that is happening in the Middle East, I feel like I have to hold back, I can’t really write about anything. I have some ideas, but those ideas have to pass the test of time. They have to stay with me for a little longer, if they are still with me in a few months that means that they have to be told, or that I want to tell them. I am in a moment of reflection, maybe there is something, but it is too early to tell.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Aïcha was screened at the BFI London Film Festival on October 12-14, 2024.
Header Credits: Director Mehdi Barsaoui at the BFI London Film Festival (Millie Turner, BFI) / A still from Aïcha (Cinetelefilms, Dolce Vita Films, Dorje Films & 13 Prods – Chantal Fischer)
