Product Details

• Actors: Marie-France Pisier, Fejria Deliba, Mathilde Seigner, Zinedine Soualem, Jalil Lespert
• Directors: Yamina Benguigui
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: Arabic, French
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Film Movement
• DVD Release Date: January 1, 2005
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0007A61K6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,856 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Zouina leaves her homeland with her 3 children to join her husband in france where hes been living for the past 10 years. In a land & culture foreign to her zouina struggles against her mother-in-laws tyrannical hand & her husbands distrustful bitterness in an attempt to adjust to her life in exile. Studio: Repnet Llc Release Date: 02/25/2005 Run time: 98 minutes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The finesse with which the Zouida is built is just beautiful., May 4, 2006

By 

Jenny J.J.I. "A New Yorker" (That Lives in Carolinas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Inch'Allah Dimanche (DVD)

Humans look for a peaceful dwelling on the earth. Homesickness is a characteristic of human existence. We belong to where we feel at home.

I must admit that there seems to be flaws in story and some problems with character development. However this originates from the nature of narrative style the director Yamina Benguigui prefers. You must have heard the literary writing style called "flow or stream of consciousness" to which James Joyce's "Ulysses" shown as an example. In the same manner, the film tells the story as a "flow of memories", most probably from a child's point of view. Reading an interview with Yamina Benguigui, I learn that the texture of the work is personal.

Childhood memories are sometimes clear and sometimes obscure. And a child's perception of the events is mainly based on images. So this explains the power and emotional impact of some scenes in the film: for ex. Zouida's breaking the window with bare hand. Or think of the old French couple's garden. They compete for the best garden award. On the other hand, the Algerian family's garden is chaotic. And the garden is not their own yet, the children can not play there as they wish. Around the symbolism of garden, we get a from-inside look at the emigrant psychology in its naive form through a child's eye.

The finesse with which the Zouida is built is just beautiful - she just shines. The movie is not stereotypical at all. The film also doesn't fall into the trap of making the ending happy and conclusive - at the end you're just left with a smile on your face and feeling like Zouida is actually somewhere out there living her life. The supporting actors are perfect, from the bus driver to the neighbors to the grocery store clerk. The pace of the movie is that of a lullaby - a still, sad, lullaby. This movie deserves all the praise.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Moving film, October 23, 2005

By 

Isabella U. (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inch'Allah Dimanche (DVD)

Inch'Allah Dimanche brings to life the experiences of an Algerian woman reunited with her husband in France. Although it is not fully representative in all aspects of an immigrant's life, the movie highlights certain problems of female immigrants. For instance, her feeling of isolation is well portrayed through her relationship with her neighbors and her family. This isolation, due to her role in the family, a language barrier and her homesickness, is one of the main themes in the film. Domestic violence is also portrayed in the relationship she has with her husband.
Not all Algerians live in the suburbs (which are a mixture of immigrants and working class French). The husband seemed to have a stable job and he had been living in France for the past 10 years. There is a possibility he created a financial base so that he could provide for his family.
I would say this is a must see. I would also like to recommend Esquive if anyone would like a good representation of adolescence in the suburbs.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Confronting Change, July 29, 2011

By 

Bryan A. Pfleeger (Metairie, LA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inch'Allah Dimanche (DVD)

One of the best things about the Film Movement series is that it allows one to see films from cultures very unlike our own. The French/Algerian offering Inch Allah Dimanche is one of those films that I never would have seen had I not belonged to the club. In its simplest terms the film details what it takes for an immigrant to be assimilated into a new culture.

Zouina (Fejria Deliba) has just been torn from her family in Algiers in order to move to 1970's France to be with a husband that she barely knows. Living in a cramped house with her mother-in-law (Rabia Mokeddem) proves to be a challnge that at times seems more than Zouina can bear.

In her new country Zouina must learn to either preserve her old way of doing things or adapt to the changing world around her. Through the help of a young factory worker (Mathilde Seigner) and a French war widow (Marie-France Pisier) Zouina starts her development as a modern French subject to the great disdain of her husband and mother-in -law.

As usual Film Movement does a great job in bringing to our attention a film that was not often seen except on the festival circuit. The film does not have much in the way of special features but does include the short Schwarzfahrer which one the 1992 Academy Award which presents a unique take on prejudice..