Moroccan women sing to be heard

Nabil Ayouch likes to give Moroccan women a voice. He had done it with the controversial Much Loved where he made prostitutes exist then with loud and clear centered where we discovered young female rappers. It is a solitary and talented mother that he highlights in Everybody Loves Toudadiscovered at the last Cannes Film Festival. Nisrin Erradi embodies this force of nature with a voice of gold and a character of hardened steel.

This 35-year-old actress discovered in Adam by Maryam Touzani (who co-wrote the screenplay forEverybody Loves Touda) vibrates with the desire to live when she leaves the village where she is mistreated to go to Casablanca. She dreams of becoming a “Sheikha”, a traditional singer expressing courage and the need for emancipation of women in sometimes very raw ways.

Un art ancestral

“I had to learn their art from A to Z,” she confides. It was a heavy responsibility to embody one of these artists who defy prohibitions to be heard.” She brings a remarkable blend of strength and fragility to her composition. “It was a draining role that exhausted me physically and mentally,” she remembers.

Touda, the heroine, must juggle her career, her deaf son and a patriarchal world that does not make her life any easier. Faced with violence, she resists against all odds. “I had a hard time leaving her,” admits Nisrim Erradi, “as she took up so much space in my life. I sometimes have the impression that she is there near me, like a ghost or a spirit.” The viewer also feels Touda’s presence lastingly after an eight-minute sequence shot which concludes the film on a faint note of hope.

Towards a bright future?

Nisrin Erradi wants to be reassuring about the future. “Things are much better for women in Morocco today,” she confides. Things have really changed for the better and the government is making sure of it.” For this newfound freedom, the actress gives a reason that is as clear as it is surprising. “I think things are moving because of the Football World Cup,” she says. The country wants to be exemplary when it takes place. » We hope that this positive development will last after 2030, the date of the sporting event.