La Source des femmes (2011)
Directed by Radu Mihaileanu

Film Review

Having scored a palpable hit with his 2009 comedy Le Concert - a light-hearted look at the implications of Stalinism - Romanian-born director Radu Mihaileanu champions the cause of global feminism in his equally irreverent follow-up, La Source des femmes.  Inspired partly by Aristophanes' war of the sexes comedy Lysistrata and partly by a real-life incident that took place in Turkey in 2001, the film follows the fortunes of a group of women in a remote (unspecified) village in the Middle East as they rebel against their men folk and demand a better way of life in exchange for marital privileges.  Coming in the wake of the Arab Spring (note the pun), the film has the advantage of being highly topical, but Mihaileanu's tendency to over-egg the pudding and resort to well-worn clichés prevents him from saying anything particularly profound or original.

On the plus side, the film is beautifully filmed, making effective use of its stunning North African location, and features some highly talented actresses, notably Hafsia Herzi and Leïla Bekhti, who had previously distinguished themselves respectively in Abdel Kechiche's La Graine et le mulet (2007) and Hervé Mimran and Géraldine Nakache's Tout ce qui brille (2010).   Mihaileanu's penchant for extracting humour from the unlikeliest situations is also very much in evidence, although here the comedy tends to work against the subject of the film and undermines the wider social messages that are struggling to make themselves felt. 

La Source des femmes is a film that is easy to engage with and a well-meaning attempt to arouse our concern for a subject of universal importance, namely the exploitation and subjugation of women by the male sex.  The problem is that it is a satire without teeth and it leaves you feeling that it has failed to say anything of any substance.  Whilst it is entertaining and does stir the conscience a little, the film is just to amiable and mealy mouthed for its own good.  Mihaileanu's reluctance to arouse controversy is presumably what led him to set the film in the abstract, to tell an obviously contrived tale in an unnamed location rather than attach it to events in the real world (which is extraordinary given that it is based on a real incident).  As in each of his previous films, Mihaileanu looks as if he is out of his depth or simply lacks the courage of his convictions to tell a story with real bite.  Nonetheless, whatever shortcomings he may have as a serious auteur, Mihaileanu knows how to win an audience and once again he delivers a film that, whilst lacking in depth, is amply redeemed by its charm, humanity and cinematic grandeur.

Film Synopsis

For longer than anyone can remember, it has been the custom in one small African village for the women to undertake a long and perilous journey up into the mountains to fetch fresh water from a spring for their families.  In the sweltering heat, it is the most arduous of tasks, and recently the women have begun to resent this ancient tradition.  One woman in particular, Leila, believes that the time has come for the women to rebel and force the men-folk to share this burden with them.

Unfortunately, Leila is a comparative newcomer to the village and no one takes her seriously - until an older woman, one who has great influence, lends her support.  The women all agree that they will refuse to sleep with their husbands until they have won their cause.  Leila's husband Sami, the village schoolteacher, is sympathetic to the women's plight and encourages them in their struggle.  Others are far less willing to go along with the women's fight for equality...