Un divan à Tunis [Arab Blues] (2019)

(On Cable TV, September 2020) Only one word was needed to get me watching Un divan à Tunis: Golshifteh. The delightful Golshifteh Farahani, specifically—an actress of Iranian origin (now exiled due to her playing in films that the government did not approve) living in France who’s been catching my eye since 2010’s Body of Lies. While she’s been in various films on both sides of the Atlantic since then, Un divan à Tunis gives us the opportunity to see her in a comic leading role, as a Tunisian-born psychiatrist who returns home from France with the intention of setting up a psychoanalytic practice of her own. Much of the comedy consists of seeing this very liberal and educated woman encounter various prejudices and try to improve people’s lives despite many obstacles. As many Tunisian cinephiles have commented, this is ideologically far more of a French film than a Tunisian one—although the local colour of the film is strong and the sense of place of Tunis is charming. As for Farahani, she is wonderful in a film designed as a showcase—funny, attractive, clever and sensible. (Even her terrific hair gets a subplot of its own, as an ill-advised haircut gets immediately nixed in favour of a better curly alternative.) I like the actress a lot—she’s better than the material—but if Un divan à Tunis is not meant to be particularly deep or nuanced, it’s quite a bit of fun by itself.