Divin A 10-minute ovation was received by the painting “Divine” at the Cannes Festival. Ouda Benjamin bewitched Croisette with an adventurous ribbon of heart that is breathtaking, along with her two brilliant heroines. Fasten your seatbelts, guys, because "Divine" young director of Franco-Moroccan origin Uda Benjamina embarks on a breathtaking adventure, captivating us with her at crazy speed, making you swallow air and feel yourself in the cabin of an imaginary Ferrari. Driving this hot rod in the driver's seat, we see a young daring girl named Dunya (Oulaya Amamra's most powerful performance). Rising star Oulaya Amamra is the director's younger sister. Selected by Benjamina from over 3,000 female lead candidates, Amamra is so alive and convincing on screen that thoughts of nepotism seem ludicrous. Uda Benjamin calls himself a self-taught director. The Divines was inspired by her experience of the 2005 Paris riots. After studying to be a hairdresser, she returns to school to earn a bachelor's degree and then takes off a few shorts. In 2006, she founded 1000 Faces, a workshop where she and her sisters Oulaya and Deborah trained as actors. The organization’s goal is to democratize cinema, just like its debut film.
The film kicks off with music, the intensity of which sets the tone for the rest of the film (the story is accompanied by an original soundtrack that combines hip-hop bass with a memorial and is completely intoxicated with modern Arabic tunes). "The Divines" then shows two inseparable girlfriends in its frenetic adventures and solidifies our sympathy for this conquering gang of two characters with their irresistibly infectious vitality and enthusiasm. Dunya, with an intelligent, gentle and often cheerful look, rebels against life in the slums, on the outskirts of Paris. Her mother, a waitress who drank alcohol, accepted this life. With his unstoppable energy and overflowing sense of humor, Dunja sets himself the task of making big money. She looks like a tomboy, but when she opens her hair, this duckling turns into a charming swan. Her friend Maimuna (Deborah Lukumuena), who lives in an Orthodox Muslim family, is not as rebellious as Dunya, but follows her in all her follies and other petty crimes.
The frantic intensity of the first few scenes gradually paves the way for something more intuitive, by introducing two characters who are as gracefully represented as our divine heroines. On the one hand, we have Rebecca (Jisca Kalvanda) - the "mistress" of the district, who takes the tenacious Dunya under her wing and quickly helps her to walk her way up the stairs of her mini-cartel, and on the other hand, Digia (dancer Kevin Mischel), who is viewed for a modern dance show. Dunya watches him from above, sitting on a metal frame in a hangar. She is caught up in the fever of this sensual ballet. For Dunee with an iron will, these two objects represent two possible worlds, two roads. You can no longer talk about the horizon towards which she is moving, but one way or another, the fates of fat Maimuna and the inspiring heroine Dunee will be decided against the backdrop of this constant confrontation between abandonment and control in this solid debut.
Ouda Benjamin, struggling to maintain her film's tempo and verisimilitude, exhales in the third act, which clearly begins to slide. However, his flaws do not outweigh his captivating style and do not tip the scales against him. Thanks to Oulaya Amamra’s amazing work and acting breakthrough, the film radiates a ton of raw energy and flaps of good mood, even approaching a tragic and sad ending.