Review of As I Open My Eyes / À peine j'ouvre les yeux, directed by Leyla Bouzid

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

I recently fell into a spell of unemployment probably during the worst time to be unemployed, as it was very hard to find a job. I was applying to hundreds of jobs, getting interviews, but no offer was manifesting for me in the near future. So during this time, I had a lot of free time, and spent a good chunk of it chipping away at the blog.

Because my budget has been a lot more limited, that means I’m getting more crafty with what subscriptions I have at any time. Subscriptions can seriously add up, and because I want to be realistic about my finances and the current economic situation of the world, I can’t be getting whatever I want when I want. Even though they face the threat of getting defunded, I’ve really been relying on my local library.

They offer not only books, but DVDs, telescopes, video games, CDs, and so much more for its patrons to check out. They offer even digital subscriptions to all the online publications I would want to read, as well as access to Kanopy. I used to use Kanopy a lot, but fell off when our old television stopped supporting it.

We did pick up a new television, so I’ve been watching all the movies I’ve been meaning to see on Kanopy while I still have all of this free time. It’s been really helpful with catching up on the blog as well, since I’ve been getting more movies out of my system to review.

This was where I ended up watching As I Open My Eyes. It’s actually not the first Tunisian film I’ve seen, but I find it exciting when I have access to these kinds of movies. They’re often not easy to find, especially with English subtitles and whatnot.

Let’s get into the review! I don’t want to ramble too much in the introduction.

A mother disagrees with her daughter’s blooming singing career, especially when it catches attention from the wrong people.

In the summer of 2010, young Farah, who is our protagonist, is at the cusp of a great change. She’s eighteen, finishing up her time in high school, and is ready for the adventure of heading off to university and studying more intensely. But in the summer before school, she’s going to chase after her dreams.

She joins a band, where she is one of the singers, and then begins dating the lute player in it. They often perform in small spaces and in cafes, where we see that Farah’s voice is absolutely gorgeous—albeit a lure, especially considering the political nature of their songs. This attracts the attention of the police, who are now watching them.

Farah’s mother receives a visit from an old friend of hers. He’s involved with the police and knows that Farah is being watched by them, and he has come to warn Hayet (Farah’s mother) about what might happen if she continues to sing about the government. Hayet bans Farah from going to sing, but she doesn’t listen to her mother.

Despite trying to lock Farah inside when the band has a gig, she escapes after locking her mother into her room. Farah sings her heart out at the performance and it is well received, making her glow with happiness and confidence from how much people liked her. Farah then decides she’s going to pursue music instead of medical school, which upsets Hayet even more.

Things drastically change when Farah’s boyfriend rolls up to the rehearsal one day bloody and blue. The police caught him and tried to get information, resorting to beating him to try and weasel some info out. He then goes up to the band’s manager and accuses him of being a plant for the police.

The fight is broken up, but the manager, Ali, comes to Farah after the fact and tells her that she needs to be careful and stop. He claims he’s protecting her, but Farah refuses to listen to him and walks away. However, not long after that, Farah goes to visit her father.

She heads to the bus station, but then is grabbed by men. Hayet learns her daughter is missing, but doesn’t realize at first that it was the police who took her. She goes to Farah’s boyfriend in the band, who insists that they should go public with Farah’s case, but Hayet disagrees.

Hayet calls up her old friend who visited her earlier, and he finds out where Farah is and relays it to Hayet. Turns out that in prison Farah has been sexually assaulted by the guards, which leads to trauma when they do finally release her. Her parents take her home, where she quits the band, and Hayet, dismayed for her daughter, sings with her as she helps her daughter learn to love music and her voice again.

Overall Thoughts

As I mentioned before, North African cinema always interests me, and as someone who unfortunately doesn’t know a ton about Tunisia and its politics, it was interesting to see what’s happening through Farah’s perspective. To see this from the perspective of a woman is a different story than a man, and as someone very interested in women’s stories, I appreciate movies like these a lot.

It’s a solid movie, and if you know nothing about Tunisia like I did, this might be a great start for diving deeper into the region and its politics. It’s also kind of a coming of age story, as Farah is in this period between high school and college, but she faces the unfortunate impacts of living in an area where freedom of expression has consequences.

Regardless, I really enjoyed this movie, and if it interests you, go watch it! I saw it through Kanopy, so hopefully there are other platforms to access it on.

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