Le Thé au harem d'Archimède (1985)
Directed by Mehdi Charef

Film Review

This debut film by Mehdi Charef, based on his semi-autobiographical novel, was well-received by the critics when it was first released, meriting a special mention at Cannes and winning the Jean Vigo prize that year.   The structure of the film is somewhat muddled and disorientating, and its lack of focus and direction make it hard for the audience to become engaged.  That said, the film offers a credible - often poignant - depiction of social exclusion and delinquency from the perspective of two disillusioned teenagers.  The film's main theme is how these two young men, coming from different racial groupings (one is white, the other Arab), discover an unlikely solidarity through their shared experiences of poverty and rejection.

Film Synopsis

Pat and Madjid are two teenagers who come from a run-down housing estate in Paris.  After failing to find work, they begin to lose hope and drift into a life of petty crime.  Both lads have their dreams, but it seems that for them, as for everyone else in the neighbourhood, there is no way out of their present precarious life.  Madjid's mother is having a hard time bringing up her large family, but now she finds she has the added responsibility of taking care of her neighbour Josette's little boy as she sorts her life out.  In spite of their own personal hardships, there is a strong feeling of community on the estate.

Madjid has fallen head over heels in love with Pat's sister Chantal, but she apparently has no interest in him and offers him no encouragement.  Shocked to see Chantal walking the streets one evening, Madjid gets himself drunk with his adolescent buddies and before the night is out they go joy-riding in a stolen car.  The morning after, Madjid and his barely sober friends find themselves on a stretch of beach in Deauville, cornered by police officers.  When Madjid is arrested, Pat demonstrates his friendship by flagging down the police van as it goes past...